Do You Follow Your Heart?

Some people misuse or abuse the word "heart" and think it just stands for how they feel or their emotions. Like saying, "I feel in my heart that you are wrong!" Or "I cannot accept that in my heart." Sometimes things don't resonate or ring true but we are meant to be rational creatures who reason out things and listen to the voice of reason! We must be true to our hearts but realize they have an intellect and volition too. The will is like the driver that controls the two horses on the carriage of emotion and intellect giving feedback and needing direction. When we accept Christ into our hearts, it means to be willing to obey Him, love Him, and know Him! I want to know Jesus more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly!

Too many people are told to follow their hearts in pursuing a career or even marriage and misconstrue that as going by one's feelings or emotions, which can vary like a weathervane in a storm. We are to seek godly counsel in major decisions and go to the LORD in prayer as a fist and not a last resort. If something is God's will, He will provide and give us the love for the endeavor and the means of doing it. God does have a plan for each of us and has even written out our lives before we were even born. God is always in control and our spiritual guide and counselor. If we don’t seek God’s will, He may say, “Okay, have it your way!” We should always bow in relinquishment and commitment to God’s will and favor.

We must realize that no one is purely emotional, intellectual or logical, or volitional; note our will are not born free but the slaves of sin, and when we get to know the Lord, we are set free! "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed." We are to love and seek the LORD with all our hearts, soul, and strength; all our being and essence. We must therefore guard our hearts, for out of them flow the issues of life (Prov. 4:23) and that as a man is in his heart, so is he (Prov. 23:7). We cannot fool God who even sees the motives of our hearts (Prov. 21:2): "The LORD weighs the heart."

Pascal was right: "The heart has reasons the mind knows not!" And Jeremiah was also on target: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Jer. 17:9 This is why Jesus wants to come into our hearts and we must believe in our hearts! He opens the eyes of our hearts to the truths of scripture and opens our hearts to make them receptive to the gospel message. God can also judiciously harden our hearts as He did to Pharaoh. But only after we have done so. Some people are just intellectually in love with the idea of the Bible as scholars or of Jesus as the model or guide of humanity but Jesus is not looking for admirers, but worshipers in spirit and in truth.

In sum, if we do not feel right about a decision, we should wait upon the LORD and pray and seek wise counsel because it may be our conscience speaking to us and God may be trying to prevent us from ruining our lives; remember this: the heart of the matter is that it’s a matter of the heart! Soli Deo Gloria!