"Just follow your heart. Dream big dreams, be yourself, and follow your heart to where you want to go. It’s the only way to true happiness.”
"You can never go wrong if you just listen to your heart."
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Following our heart. Following our dreams and desires. It’s a pleasing message to hear, but is it actually grounded Biblically? Does it actually result in any kind of good results?
Watch a typical Disney movie, or an episode of Hannah Montana and you’ll get a whole boatload of this kind of philosophy. (I'm not dogging on Disney. I love Disney. I'm just saying, it's good to be aware of this.) Sadly, even in most Christian circles you’ll get this kind of thinking.
In actuality, the Bible talks about dying to self, and being filled with more of Christ. It talks about having godly counsel to help us when we can’t figure things out on our own. It talks about following the leading of the Holy Spirit, and not our “heart.”
See, the heart can be tricky to dissect. On one hand, I may have a God-given desire and longing that is grounded and legit. Other times, I might have a desire that is unwise and simply driven by the feelings of the moment. Because of this, the Bible says that “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). I might say that I want to follow my heart into missions, and that might be God’s will for me and a wonderful dream. Or I might say my heart is telling me to go out and date this guy, which may not be God’s will for me.
Since our hearts can deceive us, we need to focus on following God and His leading, and not our hearts. God’s guidance is way more reliable than what our feelings tell us.
Fireproof, the movie made by the church in Georgia that also made Facing the Giants (and, by the way, they are starting filming of a new movie: Courageous!), is such a wonderful display of what it means to lead your heart, not simply follow it. Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron), a fireman on the brink of divorce, makes a decision to trust Jesus with his life and truly love his wife, whether or not she deserves it. The kind of self-sacrificing love he shows can only be found through God’s love. It’s such a wonderful picture of what God can do when you truly serve Him with your life – in such practical ways as not criticizing your spouse or purposefully helping him (in Caleb's case, her) clean without being asked. Michael Simmons, a fellow Christian fireman that Caleb Holt works with, has such a great line in one part of the movie. Right after Caleb tells Michael he got saved and is now committed to saving his marriage with God’s help, Michael tells him about his previous divorce and what scars come with trying to “follow your heart.”
He says, “You gotta BEG God to teach you to be a good husband. And don’t just follow your heart, man, ’cause your heart can be deceived. Man, you gotta lead your heart.”
How do we do this? Get in His Word. Let me just say that again. The only way for us to effectively let God lead our hearts is if we are IN HIS WORD.
The Bible = our instructions for how to live on this earth. I would venture to say that it is impossible for us as Christian to be truly following after Him if we are not in His Word, desperately seeking Him and His will for our lives. And man, I really need to get better at getting in His Word.
Imagine what would happen if we all determined to let God lead our hearts, and follow after Him – not our feebly little hearts and feelings. I don’t know about you, but I know that I cannot lead my own life to anywhere worth going. I want my Lord and Savior to lead my life. And the greatest part is – He is lovingly reaching out and waiting for me to give Him the reins.
