Lies We Believe #17: Just Follow Your Heart

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”—Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is often used as a metaphor to refer to the totality of one’s emotional being. Biblically, the heart is considered to be the center of one’s being whereby our wants, desires, and true self is located. It is the inner sanctum of our soul, the place where we feel, love, and where we are completely open and honest. Many of us know all to well what happens when we give our hearts to someone only to have it thrown to the ground and trounced. Which is why we use the term “broken heart” to describe the pain in our soul when faced with a broken relationship.

The Bible teaches us that we are to, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life”—Proverbs 4:23. We are to guard our hearts, aware of the possibility of making a poor choice because we know that our heart is “desperately sick” and from it “come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander”—Matthew 15:19. Knowing all this, we must be aware of our heart and its inclinations.

For example, if you have a history of bad relationships and then suddenly fall in love with the person you believe to be “the one” after only one week, chances are your heart has deceived you. I know of many men and women who are fearful of being alone and end up married to the first person that came along. Warning flags are not heeded because so much emphasis is placed on the heart and what they are feeling. And rather than wait and evaluate the person over time, they hastily get married. Unfortunately, not too long into the marriage, they realize they had made a great mistake by following their heart and not their head.

While the heart is important, it cannot be a reliable compass to give direction to life. The Bible is the only objective compass that gives us a balanced, fair, and right direction for our lives. The heart can deceive, but God’s Word will never deceive, because God Himself is the author and He is truth (John 14:6)—He cannot and will not lie to us. He wants what is best for us, but it must be in accordance with His word and His will.

May we guard our hearts and constantly seek His will through His Word so that we might experience the best that God has for us. Amen.