Follow Your Heart?
Today I had my monthly IV drug therapy treatment. It took longer than last time because of my blood pressure. Stephanie and her two boys are visiting for a few days. So, they came to Fort Collins with their cousins from Lakewood to enjoy some time together. We took advantage of the grand opening of a new restaurant in town to sample some of their menu items.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY….. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind…..” Jeremiah 17:9, 10 ESV
How often we have you heard advice given to, “follow your heart.” Doing what you “feel” is right can be dangerous, especially if it goes against what you, “know” is wrong.
In vain we often see individuals comfort themselves and others with, a “as-long-as-you-are-happy” approach to life. When we do that, it elevates personal “happiness” and “comfort” over commitment and doing what is right, even if it creates discomfort, inconvenience or pain.
If we are going to “follow our heart” we must first make sure that our heart is fully following after the Lord. The prophet speaks to God’s people and says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5 ESV)
Our heart can be a guide, but it can also be deceitful. Our hearts can be an extension of our “flesh” if we don’t keep its passions and priorities in the right direction. The Lord spoke to King Asa of Judah, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV)
King Asa was for the most part a righteous King. He was successful as he followed the Lord, but he soon ignored the connection between his success and his loyalty to the Lord. He continued to follow his heart, but his heart stopped following the Lord.
Our hearts left “on their own” can be a false and undependable guide. But as the Apostle John declared, “…we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:20 NIV)
In contrast to trusting “just” our hearts we see the prophet declare the Lord’s message, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream…” (Jeremiah 17:7,8 ESV)
We may not always be able to trust our hearts, but we can always trust the Lord. We can surrender our hearts to the Lord, and allow the One who “knows everything” to “test and know our hearts” and to reveal our hearts to us. That’s the safest place to be.
Prayer for today…. Lord, search our hearts and help us to surrender all that we are, to all that we can to You. Then we can be confident that our hearts are being directed by Your Spirit and not our own desires.