The Cultural Message: Follow Your Heart
We see this message all over Disney and Hallmark movies. This message tells us that the heart is supreme over all things and if the heart wants something, it needs it to be happy. This message tells us that our feelings are king and what we need most in the world is to be obedient to our feelings.
What the Bible Says
The Bible paints a different picture of following your heart.
1.) We can’t trust our hearts.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. Jeremiah 11:8
A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart. Proverbs 21:2
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Ecclesiastes 9:3
For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:19
These verses show us that our hearts are not to be trusted. They are not a firm foundation for us to stand.
2.) Our hearts are easily led astray.
Our hearts can be negatively influenced by Satan, other people, and whatever we choose to fill them with. We need to know that our hearts are susceptible to corruption from sin.
He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. Deuteronomy 17:17
God was giving the Israelite kings instructions on how to lead the people well. God knew that kings could be led astray by their wives as well as having much material wealth.
As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 1 Kings 11:4
We see in this verse that Solomon didn’t follow the Lord’s instructions. He accumulated material wealth and married many women who worshiped false gods. Because he didn’t obey the Lord’s instructions, he had a divided heart and it led to his downfall.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Acts 5:3
Ananias was selling a field for the church, but his heart was led astray by love of money. Even though he was doing this for the church, he was blinded by his heart’s yearning for money. Like Solomon and Ananias, we are prone to follow our hearts into sin. We become blinded to God’s good plan and we start to place our eyes on the object of our heart’s desire.
3.) Our hearts are only satisfied in God and they need to be guarded above all else.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Deuteronomy 6:6
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. Deuteronomy 10:16
In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Psalm 33:21
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
It is a real comfort to be able to place all of life’s circumstances in God’s hands. With God, we have everything that we need.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross allows us to be close to God again. When we believe that we are forgiven in Christ and submit to His lordship of our lives, we are given new hearts, and peace in those hearts.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12
These verses are just a sampling from God’s Word telling us that He is the one who cares for our hearts and that our hearts need to be in submission to Him.
So What?
The “follow your heart” message is pretty prominent in our culture. I was just in a store today and saw some wall decor that instructed me to follow my heart. It is very important to understand that our hearts are evil and should not be trusted, that our hearts can be led further astray by Satan and other people, and our hearts can’t be truly filled until we fill them with God. Our hearts were made to glorify God and when we use them for that purpose, we are truly filled.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19