The phrase “Follow your heart” is a common theme threaded throughout all media and especially toward our children. While it’s noble encouragement, I’ve advised my daughter the heart or the mind is not the most reliable barometer to determine course of action.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Furthermore, the apostle John wrote, “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.” Likewise, however, even if our hearts approve us, God is greater than our hearts.
We’ve all craved things, which aren’t beneficial for us. To quote a song from Stevie Wonder, “Part-Time Lover”, we sometimes do things “knowing it’s so wrong feeling so ‘right.’” We live in a time where desire alone, even if it conflicts with God’s perspective, somehow implies legitimacy, and we should gratify that longing because we’re simply “following our hearts.”
I can’t follow my daughter throughout the day. Therefore, I pray she opens her heart to God, her omnipresent Father, and allow Him to guide it.
“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Biblical references: Jeremiah 17:9, 1 John 3:20, and Psalms 139:1, 23-24
