OR NOT TO LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

There are many calls to "follow your heart" in movies, novels, slogans, and blogs.

A COROLLARY DICTUM IS:

OTHER WAYS TO SAY "FOLLOW YOUR HEART" ARE:

• "Trust yourself"
• "Follow your instincts"
• "Let your soul lead the way"

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to loose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Steve Jobs

I'm here to spread a message of hope. Follow your heart. Don't follow what you've been told you are supposed to do.
J. Cole

Trust your own instincts, go inside, follow your heart. As I've learned, that's the path to happiness.
Leslie Ann Waren

Make sure that you always follow your heart and your gut, and let yourself be who you want to be and who you know you are. Don't let anyone still your joy.
Jonathan Groff

You can't live a lie. You have to follow your heart.
Paul Weller

Your heart is so much more than a vessel for romance. It has been described as the king, with the mind as the king's adviser. When faced with a decision, the king may ask his advisers for advice, may even send him out into the world to gather information, but ultimately it is the king that makes the final decision. Even though the advisers do not always agree with the king's decision, the king is invariably right, because the king's view not only sees the bigger picture but is also aware of the needs of others.

In the same way, when faced with a decision or conflict, your mind may come up with numerous, different and quite logical reasons why you should act as it advises, but if you listen to and trust your heart—however illogical or irrational it may seem—it is usually right and you are happier as a result.

Oprah.com

As we have seen, it is a common theme that one should follow his or her heart regardless of consequence

In an interview with the Modesto Bee, Hooker said, "In making our choice, we've hurt a lot of people. We keep asking ourselves, 'Do we make everyone else happy or do we follow our hearts?' "

California student who abandoned school, family and friends to live with her teacher boyfriend has ended the controversial relationship after the teacher was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting another girl 14 years ago.

"I've certainly made a choice to walk in a different direction," Hooker said. "I knew there would be consequences to that. I don't think it was ever wrong, I knew what I was doing. I followed my heart."

According to new research done at the University of Otago, New Zealand, decisions made with the heart tend to be higher quality than those made with your head.

The problem is that none of these quips are biblically supportable!

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT IT?

Rather than trust our hearts, we are to commit our hearts to God!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6

For anything to provide proper direction it must be based on OBJECTIVE truth. That is to say that whatever is consulted for guidance must reach a conclusion based on objective truth and not SUBJECTIVE emotional inference.

The Bible teaches that man is to follow God

God declares, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him” (Jeremiah 17:7)

GOD IS OMNISCIENT

That ability, combined with God’s goodness, enables God to give the BEST possible direction for people to follow.

Until you consider that your heart has sociopathic tendencies. Think about it for a moment. What does your heart tell you?

My heart tells me that all of reality ought to serve my desires.

My heart likes to think the best of me and worst of others — unless those others happen to think well of me, then they are wonderful people. But if they don’t think well of me, or even if they just disagree with me, well then, something is wrong with them.

And while my heart is pondering my virtues and others’ errors, it can suddenly find some immoral or horribly angry thought very attractive.

The “follow your heart” creed certainly isn’t found in the Bible.

The Bible actually thinks our hearts have a disease:
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it."
Jeremiah 17:9

Jesus, the Great Physician, lists the grim symptoms of this disease: “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19). This is not leadership material.

The truth is, no one lies to us more than our own hearts. They don’t tell us the truth, they just tell us what we want. They are not benevolent, they are pathologically selfish.

"In fact, if we do what our hearts tell us to do we will pervert and impoverish every desire, every beauty, every person, every wonder, and every joy. No, our hearts will not save us. We need to be saved from our hearts."
Jon Bloom

"Our hearts were never designed to be followed, but to be led. Our hearts were never designed to be gods in whom we believe; they were designed to believe in God."

If we make our hearts gods and ask them to lead us, they will lead us to narcissistic misery and ultimately damnation.

They cannot save us, because what’s wrong with our hearts is the heart of our problem!

But if our hearts believe in God, as they are designed to, then God saves us (Hebrews 7:25) and leads our hearts to exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

Therefore, don’t believe in your heart; direct your heart to believe in God. Don’t follow your heart; follow Jesus.

So though your heart will try to shepherd you today, do not follow it. It is not a shepherd. It is a pompous sheep that, due to remaining sin, has some wolf-like qualities. Don’t follow it, and be careful even listening to it. Remember, your heart only tells you what you want, not where you should go. So only listen to it to note what it’s telling you about what you want, and then take your wants, both good and evil, to Jesus as requests and confessions.

Jesus is your shepherd (Psalm 23; John 10). Listen to his voice in his word and follow Him (John 10:27).

He is the truth; he is the way, and he will lead you to life (John 14:6).

"Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 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 15:38-39

4 Lies That Satan Wants you to Believe about God
Based on Genesis 3

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44

1. He wants you to believe negatively about God.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of EVERY tree of the garden?'"
Genesis 3:1

Satan wants you to believe that God is a cosmic joy killer. That He placed you in this world but he doesn't want you to enjoy the things around you. He gave you His laws and constantly tells you: "Don't do this, don't do that!"

The TRUTH is that when God says, "Thou shall not" He is telling you, "Be careful, you will get hurt!"
When God says, "Thou shall" He is telling you, "Enjoy, it is good for you"

2. He wants you to think skeptically about God.

"The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." Genesis 3:2

"Then the serpent said to the woman, 'YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and YOU WILL BE LIKE God, knowing good and evil."
Genesis 3:4

PEOPLE REPLACE GOD'S WORD WITH:

• Relativism - there is no absolute truth
• Subjectivism - "I feel this" "Let me tell you about my experience"
• Pragmatism - does it work?
• Rationalism - reason, intelect, logic
• Postmodernism - "What is true for you might not be true for me"
• Empiricism - the only truth we can know is what we can measure. This is the scientific approach to truth

3.He wants you to think lightly about God.

The Devil wants you to believe that following your own heart and sinning as much as you want has no consequences. That there is no eternal punishment. That you can do what ever feels good to you and not fear God's judgment. But, the Bible says that if you die without Jesus you will go to hell.

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:5

4. He wants you to think suspiciously about God.

You need to be AUTONOMOUS!

When you follow your own heart, you tell the Lord you know better than the God who created you!

The Devil wants you to follow your own heart and believe those lies about God.

John 10:10 says:
"The thief does not come except to STEAL, and to KILL, and to DESTROY. I have come that they may have LIFE, and that they may have it more ABUNDANTLY."

What kind of a life do you want to have?

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Matthew 7:24-27

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

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