The Religious Nerd

Throughout life I have heard people say things such as ” you should follow your heart” or “just do what feels right to you”.  For a long time I accepted those statements at face value and thought they were nice, neat, encouraging, tingling to the ear, etc.  The idea behind those statements is that everybody will make the right decision if they simply trust their feelings and “follow their heart”.

You won’t find this idea in Scriptures though.  In fact, the Scriptures make it abundantly clear that you should not follow your heart because it is corrupt and evil at its core.  Look what the prophet Jeremiah wrote:

 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

Think about it like this; would you trust a felon who was convicted of child abuse to baby sit your children?  No, you wouldn’t want someone like that anywhere near your children.  The human heart is corrupted by sin which means we are all convicted felons in the eyes of God.  If you wouldn’t allow a convicted child abuser to watch your kids, you shouldn’t “follow your heart” or “just do what feels right to you”.

While The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings forgiveness of all sins past, present, and future, and the work of the Spirit sanctifies us making us holy, we are still imperfect sinners who make mistakes.  Instead of trusting our heart (which has failed us time and time again) we should seek out God’s will for our lives in every possible way.

Christians get stuck in life and go around and around in circles making little to no progress and never seem to figure it out.  A lot of these folks are stuck because they trust in their heart to deliver them from their circumstance.  Again, look at what the Scriptures say:

 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;” Proverbs 3:5

Instead of following your heart, follow the Lord and put your trust in Him.  He is 100% consistent in everything He does.  It doesn’t always make sense at first, but in the long run it always becomes clear that the Lord does everything for the good of the Christian (Rom 8:28)

If you want to read more on why you shouldn’t trust your feelings check out this article.