We often hear the phrase, “just follow your heart,” but that is really not a good idea. Why? Just consider the wisdom of the Scriptures:
Jeremiah 17:9–10 (ESV) — 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
With the heart as the seed of affections, controlling our motivations and actions, it would be best as wisdom tells us to guard our hearts.
Proverbs 4:23 (ESV) — 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
We must recognize that because of the fall the heart of man by nature pushes away from God and all that God says.
Psalm 14:1 (ESV) — 1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
Romans 3:10–12 (ESV) — 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
That is exactly why we need a heart transplant that only God can do, as He has promised and as He carries out as He brings salvation as God sovereignly brings us to hear the Gospel, understand the Gospel, and response to the Gospel, making us willing and ready as our hearts have changed from being hard and stoney to a heart that feels after God.
Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV) — 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Romans 10:8–10 (ESV) — 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Psalm 27:8 (ESV) — 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
It’s a marvelous change of heart that God brings about, even as He places His law in our hearts, giving us a desire to please Him because He has cleared our debt that we could never pay through the redemption we have in the Lord Jesus Christ as He has forgiven our sins, never to be remembered against us again.
Hebrews 10:16–17 (ESV) — 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
As you go back in the book of Hebrews there are several things about the heart we must notice:
First, we can harden our hearts towards God through the rejection of His word, even though the failure to follow His word.
Hebrews 3:8 (ESV) — 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
Hebrews 3:15 (ESV) — 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Hebrews 4:7 (ESV) — 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Secondly, we have to be on guard of going astray in our hearts. The world, the flesh, and the devil are always providing distractions from the way God has designed for us so we are called upon to go to battle against the many calls to turn away.
Hebrews 3:10 (ESV) — 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’
Thirdly, we have to guard against an unbelieving heart. If we aren’t careful, we begin to forget the great things that God has done and live accordingly in unbelief. We often worry and doubt like an atheist instead of trusting in God.
Hebrews 3:12 (ESV) — 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
You heart is important to God and should therefore be important to us. After all Jesus taught that what comes out of a person is really the product of the condition of the heart.
Mark 7:21–23 (ESV) — 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Therefore, as we are admonished to watch what we eat, exercise, and get a handle on the stress of our lives to care for the organ in our bodies that pumps blood throughout our bodies, how much more should we give attention to the care of the center of our emotions, motivations, and desires?
Proverbs 4:23 (ESV) — 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker, Pastor
Christ Community Presbyterian Church
Clearwater, FL
Check out Bob’s podcast, The PowerBreak Podcast, wherever you download podcasts or from his website: www.bobbrubaker.com.
