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| Should We?? |
The image is deceptive. We have heard it forever, haven't we? As teenagers approaching our college days, not knowing which career path we should choose, our parents likely said to us, "Just follow your heart." In the dating realm when we are making choices about life partners, we hear the same message, "Just follow your heart." I have even personally heard attached to that phrase, "It can never disappoint you."
In the end, following your heart is more about going after, and getting, exactly what you want. Following your heart is often devoid of wise counsel, let alone the wisdom of God.
We have been told by God in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you . . . plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Twice in one verse God mentions His plans. I can only speak for myself when I say that all too often, when there is a choice out there for me to make, I am prone to follow my heart. Yet, nearly every time I do that, I have not given any consideration to what God want, His will for me.
Following your heart is easy. It simply requires that you are able to discern what you want for yourself, then go with the "good feeling." We know how to do that! But to follow God's heart you must be able to set yourself aside and be willing to go in the direction that God is leading you in. God's way and our way are often in opposition. And since our flesh has strong desires, we often mistake that as the very will of God.
Our hearts were not designed to lead us, therefore they are not trustworthy to follow. Proverbs 23:19 speaks loudly to this.
"Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way."
Do you see the difference? God does not say that your heart is to direct you to the right things. On the contrary, He says that you are to direct your heart! Why is the heart unreliable to lead us? Genesis 8:21 gives us insight into that. "For the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth." Now, if you are thinking, "Yes, but that is from the Old Testament, before the Spirit was given and my heart could be cleansed by Christ's sacrifice," then consider this New Testament verse spoken to converted Christian Jews. Hebrews 4:12 powerfully aligns itself with the eternal truth of Genesis 8:21 when it declares, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart . . ."
You see, even though you are a believer and are saved and your heart houses the Holy Spirit this very moment, God is looking into your heart and is quite able to discern which parts of your heart are under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and which parts are not. Though you have been cleansed, you still sin, you still have wrong motives, you still have uncrucified flesh. And all of that sin resides first and foremost inside your heart, long before it comes out in your actions, words and attitudes.
Do you understand now why it is so dangerous to "follow your heart"? Your heart cannot be trusted; therefore, it is wise to make decisions based on the counsel of others, the counsel of the Word, and only after much prayer that seeks to know what God desires for you.
Proverbs 20: 24-25 makes a strong case for not following your heart, but instead, following the steps that God has laid out for you.
"Man's steps are ordained by the Lord; how then can he understand his [own] way [needs, pathways, etc.]? It is a trap for a man to say rashly, 'It is holy!' [this is what God wants, because it is what I want] and after the vows [making the decision or choice] to make inquiry [ask Him what He thinks or desires]."
How often I have made a decision, determining that what I want is certainly what God wants, only to realize the trap of a poor decision afterwards, when I finally ask God if it is what He wanted for me! So often I have not been bailed out, but have been disciplined by having to bear the consequences of following my own heart, instead of leading it in the path that God had already ordained for me. Can you relate?
Let all believers learn the powerful lesson that following our own hearts is dangerous and most often will lead us on paths that take us away from the safety of God path for us. And that is not the testimony God desires the lost world to see.
If we follow our hearts, we are like the rest of the world. That's all the world knows. But as believers, we know that there is a better way. It is our job to model that and then allow them to see the joy and peace that we experience when we know we are doing exactly what God wants us to do.
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