"Follow your heart." The worst advice ever.

“Follow your heart.”
That is the worst advice ever.

Christians are often the most commonly deceived by their heart.

We give ourselves a pass, “I love God. So, what I want to do has got to be good.”

What someone calls their heart is often self, ego, pride, and lack of awareness of how hard-headed they are. “They” as in all of us, including me.

And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. Numbers 15:39 ESV

The source of the original destruction of the earth, as seen in the flood, was summarized by God.

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

I would suggest we have one self that deals with the gravity of two realities. One reality is the gravity of self, where our opinion, agenda, attitudes, and ego sway. The other is a God gravity, where we are naturally humbled, submissive and obedient to God and his purpose. When we become “Christians, we often like to wrap our ego in spirituality, when the only thing that has changed is we blame God for our self/ego motives.

The deceptive nature of our ego/self is seen when everyone else can see our errors, and we can totally delude ourselves. We interpret our desires as God’s will.

God has ordained that we would cooperate and submit to others for the purpose and order.

As a wife, there is her husband; as children, there are parents; and as believers, we are obligated to follow another who God has used to feed and lead us in the Kingdom of God.

The rejection of the need for submission to another is the story of Korah. It’s fascinating if you have not read it in a while. I believe, as demonstrated by Moses, there is a need for cooperation and humility to serve those who God has used to speak, lead, and teach us. Refusal to recognize our need for spiritual leadership will bring a curse upon our lives.

We need to beware of our heart.

Don’t trust your heart, but recognize that if we follow our whims, opinions, and ideas to the exclusion of others who naturally care and love us is a pattern that will lead our lives to heartbreak, depression, and isolation.

There is a fine line. We must listen to God and follow His call on our lives. However, this must be tempered by humble recognition of our ability to easily delude ourselves and naturally rebel against what is actually for our safety and good.

We can often judge the voice of God because it calls us to things we don’t naturally desire and brings us far outside our comfort zone. Our tendency is to rebel against the voice and purpose of God to stay securely snuggled inside of our own ideas, opinions, and comfort.

We must seek Godly wisdom. The wisdom that brings us to a place of purity, and humility that will quickly follow the leading of the spirit of God that ministers to the good of others and not simply our own sense of worth and benefit.

Jesus, the very Son of God, the great example of goodness and rightness, embraced his self-sacrifice for the good of others and the Glory of God. He served those around him to the point of washing others’ feet rather than demanding everyone bow to his flesh. He humbled His flesh and served the good of those who would later wrong him. This is our example and a measure we can apply to our own leading.

Not my will, but God’s will. God’s will and heart will lead us to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others.

This summarizes the point perfectly.

Philippians 2

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

“Follow your heart.” The worst advice ever.