The advice is often given to just follow your heart, or go with where your feelings lead you. “I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose….” – Rihanna
The underlying assumption of this approach is that inclinations and impressions we get in our heart are a trustworthy source of direction in our lives. In Christian circles, this advice to follow your heart is often prefaced with a call to “pray about it,” but in the end, simply do or believe what feels right. While this is an appealing and popular idea, mainly because it can give a person freedom or justification to simply do whatever pleases them, it can be a very dangerous proposition. The reason why is that our hearts can be, and very often are, wrong.
For the person who has never trusted in Jesus, the Bible warns us that their heart is a very untrustworthy source of solid direction.
Jeremiah 17:9 The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
This is talking about more than our dreams, intuitions, or what our emotions want. That’s how we think of the “heart” in today’s world. In the Bible, the “heart” is the whole inner self that drives your choices and attitudes. It includes not just what you feel, but also what and how you think, what you value, your conscience, your inclinations, what you desire and what you choose - the whole inner you. Your heart involves your mind, your will, and your emotions. It is the control center of your being.
Jeremiah 17:9 is a warning that our inner mechanism for making decisions is pretty jacked up. Your heart will lead you down a deceitful path that could be very destructive.
Mark 7:19-23 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Jesus says that the human heart is the source of all kinds of sin. We carry wickedness around within us. This is why we shouldn’t follow our hearts, but question our hearts.
Ecclesiastes 9:3 The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live.
Clearly, God warns us not to simply trust our hearts, because they are full of deceit and wickedness. The reason why our hearts are so depraved is that every human being is born with a sinful nature that corrupts everything about them. This doesn’t mean that no one has ever done a good deed in their life, but that even the good things we do are tainted with the stain of sin. And because of this sin, our hearts are infected and broken and can easily lead us astray. This means that the advice to simply follow your heart is foolish because a sinful heart cannot be trusted.
Romans 3:9-12 No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.
On God’s scale, no good deed measures up, because the unseen inner life that drives it is corrupt. Many good deeds, for example, are driven by bad motives.
For the person who has trusted in Jesus, the good news is that the Bible says you have been given a new, redeemed heart as a part of your salvation experience. When we put our faith in Christ, everything about us is new, including our hearts.
2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
So because a Christian’s sin has been forgiven and they have been given a new heart, God can and does work through the desires of their heart. In particular, desires that are placed there by God through his Spirit and his Word. New desires we didn’t have before we began following Jesus.
1 John 2:3 We can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.
It’s fair for a professing Christian or church-goer to examine him or herself. Are you following your heart or are you living in obedience to what God says? What does that say about your relationship with God? Are you willing to listen to people who will call you out about sinful activity?
Galatians 6:1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right track.
Yet even genuine Christians should still be very careful with the leadings of their heart because we are still able to be deceived. Our hearts aren’t entirely changed overnight. A battle is being waged within every one of us, between our old nature and the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-17 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.
And the Bible warns us that Satan is a deceiver and is actively seeking to lead people astray by getting them to believe lies. It also warns us that some of Satan’s lies can seem very appealing. It says in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” So just because you pray about something and feel one way or the other doesn’t necessarily mean that that feeling can be trusted.
So how can we know whether or not to trust the feelings, desires, and dreams that flow up from our hearts?
So, while the Christian can and should seek God through prayer and be sensitive to the leadings and desires the Holy Spirit puts on their heart, this cannot be the final say when it comes to making decisions and understanding the truth. The feelings of our heart should always be tested first and finally by the words of Scripture. The Bible is the unchanging Word of God which never changes, isn’t affected by mood swings, isn’t susceptible to lies and will always lead us on the right path. The Bible can cut through all the mixed feelings and questions of our heart and expose the truth.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
The Bible has the power to reveal (expose) our internal thoughts and desires. That is, to hold the heart accountable and to steer it away from trouble. Someone with a tender, responsive heart toward God wants their innermost thoughts and desires to be exposed, in order to grow more like Jesus. This humility comes out of a conviction that God is ultimately good and wants our best.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
Any random thought or desire I have may or may not be true. But the Bible can teach us what is true and what is right. It can make us realize what is wrong. We're all pretty myopic when it comes to identifying our own faults. But the Bible helps us realize anything that's wrong and correct it, when we need it.
So when making a decision or seeking truth, it’s a good thing for a Christian to pray and ask God to move their hearts. But whatever feelings or impulses come out of that process should always be put in submission to the clear teaching of the Bible.
Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Instead of following your heart, you should guard your heart. The heart determines what happens in your life. But no matter what Rihanna says, that may not always be good! So be very careful to test whatever your heart says against God’s wisdom for life.