Have you ever received or maybe even given this advice? You’re facing a difficult decision, fraught with anxiety and not sure which direction to turn, and someone comes up and says, “Just follow your heart.” Is this good advice?
If we trust our hearts to be good and just and wise, we may consider this to be a good alternative to the confusion of following our minds. After all, there is this thing called “irrational rationality” that is created when we think and think and finally convince ourselves something is right when it is not. Say the word ‘rationalize’ really slowly and you will come to hear “rational lies” that we and others tell us. So in that context, listening to our heart may seem a good alternative. But what does God say about that?
Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Acting out of passion is zealous but not always wise. Can you remember times when you or a loved one acted out of the passion of their heart and regretted the outcome? I have done this, even sometimes when doing a good thing, but rashly and not getting God’s counsel on the matter first. And I have followed my heart to bad things too.
Psalm 139:23 offers a measured approach: “Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.” The one who created us, knows our thoughts when we rise and when we lay down. He knows the condition of our hearts and He alone can reveal to us and convict us of our innermost thoughts and motivations. His point of view clarifies truth when all around there seems to be confusion. He brings peace to our heart when it seems at war. He stills us and leads us when we feel like we are being rushed and pushed in different directions, He calms us when we are obsessed, and convicts us of both the wrong and the right in our hearts.
Isn’t it GOD’s heart we need to pursue and not our own? After all, His heart pursues us! We were on His mind when He laid the foundations of the earth, He created us and knit us together in our mother’s womb, He sent His son to rescue us while we were still sinners. There is no getting our act together and THEN coming to God. He came out running after us while we were still astray. God has a heart that loves us more than we can imagine and His love never fails. His heart has good plans for us, plans for real hope and a good future.
Don’t follow your heart; follow God’s heart.
“You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with ALL your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13