The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.  Jeremiah 17:9-10 HCSB

I’ve said it. I’m sure you’ve said it. We have all said it and probably done it at some point in our lives, we have followed our heart. Or, we have told someone else to follow their heart. What horrible advice.

The Bible clearly tells us that we should never follow our heart because it is deceitful. Your heart will lie to you. It is desperately wicked. The heart will get us into a jam.

Often times in the Bible the word heart is used. I often quote the scripture in Matthew 22:37 that tells us to love the Lord your God with all your heart. In Biblical terms the heart refers to our inner emotions. It refers to our thoughts that are deep inside, or our true thoughts and feelings. We know that following our feelings or our emotions is a bad idea. When we follow our heart that is what we are doing. We are getting emotionally involved in something and going along because we think that this is what will be good for us. Why do we think this? I don’t know about you, but when I have followed my emotions, aka my heart, it has been because it was offering what I wanted. You never see someone “follow their heart” by doing something they don’t want to do. Our heart is that little warm fuzzy thing that makes us feel good and tends to increase our endorphins. Our endorphins are the “feel good” chemicals or “happy” chemicals in our brain. They help to reduce pain and stress. They can be activated by eating chocolate, do you really want to trust your life to them? We all want to feel good, so when something makes us feel good we are more apt to follow that.

But, we have to beware of that. If our heart goes down the wrong path, we will often follow. In Jeremiah when he says the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, he is describing man’s natural condition. We were born sinners. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fall short of God. David spoke of man’s sinful nature in Psalm 51. God destroyed the earth by flood because of the widespread evil and wickedness on the earth. He only spared Noah, found to be a righteous man, and his family.

If we are brutally honest with ourselves, our heart often leads us to sin. Feelings and emotions lead us to satisfy the desires of the flesh. When we satisfy the desires of the flesh, we are never truly satisfied. Only when we turn to God and trust in Him and obey Him, can we truly find peace and joy in our lives.

We love to think of Valentine’s Day and emojis when we think of hearts. But, my friend we should be thinking of them as something scary that we see at Halloween. If we don’t love the Lord our God with all our hearts, we could be in trouble. When we give our heart to God, we desire what He desires. We want to be like Jesus. We want to please the Lord.

I don’t know about you, but I have followed my heart into some places that have brought me nothing but heartache. My heart lied to me and told me that relationships were going to work out for my good. Only God works things out for our good and only when we love Him and live according to the purpose He has set for our lives.

Our Scripture passage tells us that God searches our hearts and tests our minds. If you are following man, your feelings or your emotions, God is probably not going to be so pleased when He searches your heart. When He tests your mind, you are destined to fail. Following our heart leads us to do things that are against God’s will for our lives. But, if your heart is sold out to Jesus, then it won’t lead you astray. Simply put, following your heart could lead you into big trouble. Follow Jesus and give Him your heart and you will do well.

Have a great day!