June 18 | Why "Follow Your Heart" Is Actually Terrible Advice: A Biblical Guide to Better Decision Making
Have you ever wondered why the world's most popular advice might be leading millions astray? Discover what the Bible really says about trusting your heart and learn God's better way for making life decisions.
The Most Dangerous Lie Wrapped in Beautiful Packaging
"Follow your heart." These three simple words appear everywhere in our culture today. From Disney movies to graduation speeches, from Instagram captions to bestselling self-help books, this advice is treated like the ultimate key to happiness and fulfillment. But what if I told you that following your heart might actually be leading you away from God's best for your life?
As someone on this journey of faith, I've had to wrestle with this popular wisdom and compare it to what Scripture actually teaches. The results might surprise you. Today, we're going to explore why "follow your heart" can be terrible advice and discover God's better way for making decisions that truly matter.
The Cultural Message: Why "Follow Your Heart" Sounds So Good
The Appeal of Heart-Centered Living
Our culture has turned "following your heart" into the ultimate expression of authenticity and freedom. The message is simple and seductive: trust your feelings, trust your desires, trust your gut instincts. If something feels right, do it. If it makes you happy, pursue it. Your heart knows what's best for you better than anyone else.
This advice appeals to us because it puts us in control. It tells us we have all the answers within ourselves. It promises that happiness is just one heart-following decision away. No wonder it's become the go-to counsel for everything from career choices to relationships to major life changes.
The Problem with Feelings-Based Decisions
But here's where I've had to face some uncomfortable truths. If our hearts are so trustworthy, why do we make so many decisions we later regret? Why do we fall for people who are terrible for us? Why do we pursue careers that leave us feeling empty and unfulfilled? Why do we make purchases we can't afford, choose paths that lead to destruction, or find ourselves in situations we never intended to be in?
The evidence of our daily lives suggests that maybe, just maybe, our hearts aren't the reliable guides we've been told they are.
What the Bible Really Says About Our Hearts
The Shocking Truth from Jeremiah 17:9
The Bible has something pretty startling to say about our hearts. In Jeremiah 17:9, God gives us this sobering reality check: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Read that again. Deceitful above all things. God isn't saying our hearts are just a little unreliable or occasionally misleading. He's declaring that they're the most deceitful thing in existence. They lie to us. They mislead us. They tell us what we want to hear, not what we need to hear.
Understanding Heart Deception in Daily Life
This verse used to bother me. I thought, "God, that seems harsh. My heart isn't that bad." But then I started paying attention to how my heart actually operates. I noticed how my heart told me to stay up scrolling social media instead of getting the rest I needed. How it convinced me to avoid difficult conversations I knew I needed to have. How it whispered that I deserved that purchase I couldn't really afford.
Our hearts are master manipulators. They're incredibly skilled at dressing up selfishness as "self-care." They'll call revenge "justice" and rename lust as "love." They'll transform greed into "ambition" and package pride as "confidence."
The Biblical Alternative: Guard Your Heart
The Wisdom of Proverbs 4:23
But here's the beautiful thing about God – He doesn't just diagnose the problem without providing the solution. Look at what King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote in Proverbs 4:23: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
Notice the stark difference. Solomon doesn't say "follow your heart." He says "guard your heart." Like a treasure that needs protection. Like a garden that needs careful tending. Like a fortress that requires constant vigilance.
Our hearts are incredibly powerful – everything we do flows from them – but that's exactly why they need to be guarded, not blindly followed.
What It Means to Guard Your Heart
Guarding your heart doesn't mean becoming emotionless or suppressing all feelings. Instead, it means being intentional about what influences your heart and being wise about how you respond to your heart's desires.
Think of it like being a careful gatekeeper. You don't let just anyone into your house, and you shouldn't let just any thought, desire, or impulse control your decisions. Guarding your heart means being selective about what you allow to influence your deepest thoughts and motivations.
Three Practical Ways to Guard Your Heart
1. Filter Through God's Word
The first way to guard your heart is to filter all your heart's desires through Scripture. When your heart wants something, pause and ask: "Is this aligned with what God says is good for me?" This isn't about killing joy or being legalistic. It's about recognizing that God's Word provides the perfect filter for discerning between healthy desires and deceptive ones.
Psalm 119:105 tells us that God's word is "a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." When our emotions are screaming one thing, we can turn to Scripture to see what God's wisdom says about the situation.
2. Submit to the Holy Spirit's Guidance
The second way to guard your heart is by submitting your feelings and desires to the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that the Spirit would "guide you into all the truth" (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit provides discernment that our hearts simply cannot offer on their own.
Proverbs 3:5-6 gives us this incredible promise: "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."
The Holy Spirit will convict us when we're headed toward sin and guide us toward righteousness. He'll give us peace about good decisions and unrest about harmful ones. But we have to be willing to listen to His voice above our heart's voice.
3. Seek Wise Counsel
The third way to guard your heart is by surrounding yourself with godly wisdom and counsel. Proverbs 27:17 reminds us that "iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Our hearts might lie to us, but godly friends who love us will tell us the truth, even when it's hard to hear.
This means being intentional about who speaks into your life. It means asking mature believers for input on major decisions. It means being humble enough to receive correction and wise enough to seek guidance before you make choices that could impact your future.
The Beautiful Transformation: From Deceptive to Devoted
Hearts Surrendered to Christ
Here's what I'm learning on this journey: God didn't give us hearts to be our masters, but to be our servants. When our hearts are surrendered to Christ, when they're transformed by His love and filled with His Spirit, then they become beautiful instruments of His will.
The goal isn't to suppress our hearts or ignore our emotions. The goal is transformation. Romans 12:2 calls us to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" so that we can "test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
The Process of Heart Transformation
This transformation doesn't happen overnight. It's a daily process of surrender, a continuous choice to submit our desires to God's wisdom. It means regularly confessing where our hearts have led us astray and asking God to align our desires with His.
As we spend time in God's Word, as we pray and seek His face, as we surround ourselves with godly community, our hearts begin to change. We start wanting what God wants. We begin to desire His will above our own. Our hearts become trustworthy not because they're perfect, but because they're surrendered.
Practical Application: Making Godly Decisions
Before You Decide, Ask These Questions
Before making any significant decision, pause and ask yourself these questions:
"Am I following my heart here, or am I following God's wisdom?"
"What does Scripture say about this choice?"
"Do I have peace from the Holy Spirit about this decision?"
"What do godly people in my life advise?"
"Will this choice draw me closer to God or further from Him?"
The Daily Practice of Heart-Guarding
Guarding your heart is a daily discipline, not a one-time decision. It means starting each day by surrendering your desires to God. It means regularly examining your motives and asking God to reveal any areas where your heart might be deceiving you.
It also means being quick to repent when you realize you've followed your heart into sin or poor decisions. God's grace is sufficient, and His mercies are new every morning.
Choose God's Way Over Culture's Way
The next time someone tells you to "follow your heart," remember what God says. Don't follow your heart – guard it. Transform it. Surrender it to the One who knows you better than you know yourself.
Culture's way might seem easier and more appealing, but God's way leads to true life, genuine peace, and lasting fulfillment. Your heart might promise you happiness, but only God can deliver the deep joy and purpose your soul is truly seeking.
This isn't about becoming emotionless or losing your personality. It's about discovering who you really are when your heart is aligned with God's heart. It's about experiencing the freedom that comes from making decisions based on eternal wisdom rather than temporary feelings.
The choice is yours. Will you continue to follow the unreliable compass of your deceitful heart, or will you trust the perfect guidance of your loving Heavenly Father? The difference between these two paths isn't just about better decision-making – it's about the difference between a life lived in deception and a life lived in truth.
Choose God's way. Guard your heart. And watch as He transforms not just your decisions, but your entire life.
An Invitation to go Deeper….
If today’s message spoke to you, join the FaithLabz 30-Day Prayer Challenge and strengthen your connection with God’s unshakable love. You are never alone—let’s grow together!
