Follow Your Heart?

A man can’t serve two masters…

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 (Image: Unsplash)

Our three-part series about the Mind, Heart, and Tongue now focuses on the heart. Even before the age of social media, people everywhere were encouraged to follow their “heart”—their signature path to happiness and plans for the future, no matter where it took them.

You may have even heard the phrase “follow your heart” or “live your truth” around the office, in schools, or read some literature in self-help books.

But what if I told you that God does NOT want us to follow YOUR hearts?

In Jeremiah 17: 9-19, God warns that when our hearts, described as desperately wicked, are filled with worldly dreams, we become deaf to His voice and guidance.

How does this happen? To illustrate, let’s observe this rose, for example…

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.” - 1st Peter 1: 24-25 (Image: Veronica Downing)

Have you ever taken a moment to notice roses? The way they grow? A rose emerges from its bud wrapped up in itself, tightly concealing the beauty within from the outside world.

The heart, from the time of our birth, acts the same way, rehearsing and wrapping itself in its desires for days or longer, keeping the depth of its wants away from the outside world—until the light of opportunity shines on it.

Again, the world is filled with many things that water our dreams and nourish our souls, but not all are good for us. It seems that man habitually runs after this world's most dangerous, toxic, and destructive temptations rather than the righteous fruits of the spirit. In the last days, the Bible says that we will have itching ears, searching the earth for things that match our wants—or, as this generation puts it, our energy.

Though God gave us the ability to dream, have desires, and want for earthly things, he warns us against being consumed by those desires.

How can wanting things consume you? Have you ever heard of the word obsessed?

Yep! We can want things so badly that they become an obsession - an addiction, a habit, a Jones, and worst of all - AN IDOL. Contrary to popular belief, having an obsession is code for idolatry. Anything that you place into higher importance than almighty God himself IS AN IDOL, and it is a major sin in his eyes.

Remember what God said to Moses in Exodus 20: 3-5, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” That wasn’t a one-time directive. Man has largely ignored this first commandment and chosen to live as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah - idolizing everything and everyone, from material things to celebrities, to political figures, to the president.

Yeah! I said it. There is only ONE TRUE GOD, and he is not in the Oval Office.

This is why phrases like “follow your heart” and “speak your truth” are so dangerous and misleading. John 14: 6 says that Jesus is the ONLY way, the truth, and the life. So, since we don’t have the infinite knowledge or wisdom that God has, we can’t be trusted to follow OUR hearts because we are walking blind in this world, incapable of finding the truth.

Before you let the world mislead you with your desires, consider giving those desires back to Jesus, who created your heart. Trust that He can fulfill them if they're based on His word and plan for your life. Thank Him for what He is already doing in you, and hold on to His promises - which are “yes” and “amen.”

Your heart was created to love God and rely on Him for life and direction. Don’t believe that you can’t find your purpose in Him. He made you and knows what’s best. True happiness comes when you stop focusing on the world and trust in Him.