Does the Bible say to follow your heart?

From: Gotquestions.org ]

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

Related pieces of advice are “trust yourself” and “follow your instincts.” 

A corollary dictum is “your heart will never lead you astray.” 

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

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). 

This passage gives an explicit command not to trust ourselves. 

And it gives the promise of guidance to those who choose to follow the Lord.

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 has perfect knowledge of everything (1 John 3:20), a trait often called omniscience. 

-- God’s knowledge is not limited in any way. God is aware of all events that have ever transpired, are currently occurring, and will ever happen (Isaiah 46:9–10). 

-- God’s knowledge goes beyond mere events and extends to thoughts and intentions (John 2:25; Acts 1:24). 

It is not all this knowledge, however, that makes God a perfectly reliable source of guidance. 

God is also aware of 

• every possibility, 

• every eventuality, 

• every imaginable outcome of any series of events (Matthew 11:21). 

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

God says this about the unregenerate heart: 

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). 

This passage makes clear two reasons why no one should bind himself to following his heart when making decisions. 

First, there is nothing more deceitful in all of creation than the heart of man because of his inherited sin nature. If we follow our heart, we follow an untrustworthy guide.

We are, in fact, blinded to our own heart’s deceitful nature. As the prophet asks, “Who can understand it?” 

When we rely on ourselves for wisdom, we end up unable to tell right from wrong. 

The hit song of 1977, “You Light Up My Life,” contains these unfortunate words: “It can’t be wrong / When it feels so right.” 

****Determining right from wrong based on “feelings” is a dangerous (and unbiblical) way to live.****

Second, Jeremiah 17:9 teaches that the heart is desperately sick. 

There is no way to fix the heart. Rather, man needs a new heart. 

That is why, when a person comes to faith in Christ, he is made a new creation.

(See 2 Cor. 5:17)

*****Jesus does not fix the heart; instead, He replaces it with a new one.*****

But that does not mean that we can rely on our hearts after we come to faith in Christ. Even as believers, we are encouraged to follow God’s will over our own desires. 

The Bible teaches that “the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Galatians 5:17).

We have an omniscient, benevolent Lord who promises to give us wisdom (James 1:5); we have His inspired, inerrant Word written down for us (2 Timothy 3:16). 

Why would we turn our backs on God and His eternal promises in order to pursue the whimsical impulses of the heart?

Lesson 62: The Divisive Jesus -- Luke 12:49-59

Most of us have had experiences that have forever changed our lives, either for the better or for the worse. We didn’t know when we got up that morning that before night our lives would be different, but that’s what happened. Maybe you got in an accident that left you permanently impaired. Or, positively, maybe you met a person who would become your lifelong friend.

Hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ is just such a watershed experience, whether a person recognizes it or not. To hear about the unique person of Jesus Christ and what He came to do is a fork in the road of life. From that point, either you go down the path toward eternal life or you turn away toward eternal destruction. But you cannot hear about Jesus Christ and remain the same. He draws a line in the sand. Either you cross that line and receive the salvation He offers or you stay on your side of the line and eventually face His judgment.

Jesus has just warned the disciples of the need to be ready for His coming when He will judge every person (12:35-48). Those who have received the most light will receive the stricter judgment. Now (12:49-53) Jesus shows that His purpose was to cast fire on the earth and that fire would cause division, sometimes even among family members. So the disciples need to be prepared for conflict. Then (12:54-59) Luke records Jesus’ words to the whole multitude, where He chides them for being able to analyze the weather, but they ignore the signs of the times, namely that Messiah is in their very midst. He uses an illustration of a person who is going to get dragged into court with a losing lawsuit. If he’s smart, he will settle quickly before he loses everything. Even so, those who are in debt to God would be wise to be reconciled to Him now, before it is too late.

So the message for us is: https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-62-divisive-jesus-luke-1249-59

God has a plan....

 

Ten Ways to Live a Miserable Life

 While spring cleaning [our house and] my laptop, I happened on this.

What a good reminder for me today.....this 2^nd day after Easter Sunday.

It looks like I saved it on: Sat, Nov 4, 2017 at 9:47 PM.

Sorry, I do not remember where I got this in order to give credit, however I felt I really needed to post this to my blog “Collected Thoughts and Things” for someone else to “stumble” upon. I have put the word “stumble” in quotes because I believe in God's Providence.... that nothing “just happens” in life. If you are here reading this then this is a message for you to think on....feel free to save, print out, or share this message because it may lead to a blessing for someone else.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow....V

10 Ways to Live a Miserable Life

1. Focus on the negative. Whine and complain about everything and everyone all the time.

2. Be ungrateful and unappreciated of the relationships, health, and possessions you do have.

3. Constantly criticize others.

4. Expect others to serve you.

5. Be concerned with only yourself and talk about only yourself.

6. Hold others to a higher standard than what you hold yourself to.

7. Expect others to reach out to you first.

8. Have a martyr complex.

9. Blame others and hold a grudge.

10. Expect God to owe you something.

A self-centered life will not lead to living an abundant life, it will just lead to a miserable life.

All of these actions and attitudes are so easy to succumb to because our flesh will naturally default to them. It’s a wise woman who recognizes these ways do not lead to a flourishing life but rather a rotten one.

Laying aside my flesh is hard. And developing Godly virtues are hard. But the effects of living a miserable life is not how I want to be characterized as a woman since a self-centered lifestyle is not pleasing to the Lord. Plus, I don’t want to leave this kind of legacy to my children because they’ll most likely end up emulating me.

Choosing to surrender my self-centered ways is the path that I want to embrace as hard as it might be, therefore I need to dwell on the things that bring life to my soul so God can transform my heart and make it more like His.

By embracing an others-minded mentality and choosing to have a joyful attitude, my life (and yours) will change for the better and so will our relationships! Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d like to have a thriving life and thriving relationships!

Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Phil. 2:4-5

Are you in a place of discouragement today? Do you feel miserable?

If so, dwell on this, my friend…

“Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” ~ Psalm 103:2-5

Live a poured out life for Christ,

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And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ~ Romans 8:28