Follow Your Heart // “Follow Your Heart” And Other Awful Advice
“Some things are better left unsaid.” Have you ever heard that piece of advice? It’s a good one. Especially when it’s applied to other bits of advice we often hear. Phrases like “Follow your heart!” or “Speak your truth!” sound helpful on the surface. But when you actually apply this awful advice in your life, you’ll see the results are not what you hoped they’d be. The good news is, there’s a better way to a better life—far better than living by one-sentence slogans that don’t actually work. Behind every piece of awful advice we can find a timeless truth from God that, when lived out in practice, will change our lives for the better.
Humans are not intellectual beings with emotions. We’re emotional beings who happen to have an intellect! Most of the time, we allow our feelings and emotions to guide our life. But when that happens, we end up making decisions on momentary, fleeting feelings. The good news is we don’t have to settle for this way of living—God has given us something better than our heart to follow when it comes to making decisions.
Message Notes
When we talk about “following your heart”, we are talking about making decisions.
Intellect—use your head
Intuition—trust your gut
Feelings/emotions—follow your “heart”
“Follow” means something or someone is going to lead me.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. Matthew 15:19
Our hearts never tell us the truth; they tell us what we want.
Following your heart prioritizes your desires above all else.
Our hearts lead down a path of vagueness and confusion.
“…we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”
I John 3:20I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever.
John 14:16Trust 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 3:5-6Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (MSG)
My heart was not designed to be followed; it was designed to be led.
