The world says: “Follow your heart!” Is that a good idea?
Let’s begin with an answer of “no.” Because God says: “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool…” Proverbs 28:26
Biblically, the heart refers to the inner man, the soul, the mind, will, and emotions.
The psalmist recounts some of the history of Israel.
Psalm 81:12 So I gave them [disobedient Israel] up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
In other words, the people each “did their own thing.”
But there is a positive side to the heart. The heart that is centered upon and focused upon God’s law is to be sought and guarded.
Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Proverbs 4:4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
Proverbs 4:21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep [Guard] them in the midst of thine heart.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep [Guard] thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life
In our Lord’s parable of the sower, we find out what kind of heart brings forth Christian fruit.
Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Then the apostle Paul assures Christian believers that when we follow after God and His law/word, He by the Spirit dwells within us!
2 Corinthians 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
For centuries, ancient Israel disobeyed and forsook their Maker and thus suffered the consequences of disobedience, but Jeremiah prophesied of the time when (after the coming of the Messiah), there would be a new way open by faith in the Messiah, and it would entail and include a change of heart.
Jeremiah 31: 31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD [Yahweh], that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD [Yahweh]:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD [Yahweh], I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This is echoed in the New Testament by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Returning to the titular question, should we “follow our hearts?” The biblical answer is, only when we are following after God and His righteousness with all our hearts.
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