Follow Your Heart?

Last updated on: May 15, 2018 at 9:45 am by Matt Pearson

Follow Your Heart? 2018-05-14T10:04:23-05:00 Matt Pearson

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Iâ€™ve always hated the phrase, â€œfollow your heart.â€ Mainly because God tells us through His prophet Jeremiah that our hearts are one big wicked pile of messed up selfish motives and agendas (Jeremiah 17:9).

Jiminy Cricketâ€™s advice to â€œlet your conscience be your guideâ€ has always been heretical to me.

This is good, solid, and wise. Yes, our hearts – left to themselves – are bad. Our conscience will guide us straight into an empty and black abyss, a pit of misery (â€œDilly, Dilly!â€).

But if we arenâ€™t careful, we will ignore some things going on in our hearts to our own peril.

When I read a passage like Ezra 1 I have to check myself. I have to realign my previous held assumptions and convictions with what the Bible says.

Twice in the opening chapter of Ezra we are told the Lord puts things in peopleâ€™s hearts. He leads people – through their hearts – to do particular things. Thus, if they didnâ€™t â€œfollow their heartsâ€ they would have been in disobedience to the Lord. To put it simply, there are times weÂ betterÂ follow our hearts.

First, Cyrus had it put in his heart by the Father to allow the Israelites to go back home (Ezra 1:1).

Second, the Lord put it in the hearts of Israel to go back to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:5).

They â€œfollowed their hearts,â€ and, thus, obeyed the Lord.

Was Jeremiah lying? Is Jiminy Cricket right? Should we do what RoxetteÂ suggests and â€œlisten to our heartsâ€?

How do we know the difference between following a wicked pile of messed up heart and something the Lord has put in our hearts?

To be sure, it takes discernment and wisdom and insight and attention. Before you â€œfollow your heart,â€ I would ask the following:

How can I be sure this is from the Lord?
Does this promote something I selfishly want to do, or does this promote the character, person, and reputation of Jesus?
Would doing this help fulfill a promise God made?
Is there anything about what I want to do that contradicts Scripture?
Would a person I know walks with Jesus approve?
Does my pursuit of this reflect the culture I find myself, or the atmosphere and tone of Jesusâ€™ heart?
Would doing this lead me to look more like Jesus as He is presented in the Gospels?

There are times when we need to run from our hearts. It can get us into some big-time binds. However, there are times when the Lord puts things on our hearts. We need to lean into those things and pursue them when the time is right.

Our Father isnâ€™t out to confuse us. Thatâ€™s not how He works. This tension is there because He doesnâ€™t want us on autopilot. He wants us to seek Him and go with Him and follow His lead and be with Him. So, yes, listen to your heart. But donâ€™t stop there. Listen for the voice of the Father as He meets you right where you need Him most.

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