Follow Your Heart?

Follow your heart. Just do it. Forsake what your head is telling you, expectations, what other people say. Become who you truly are by seeking what you truly want. Not what anyone else wants. Not what people tell you you want. What YOU want. Do it because you must — in the end there is no other way to be happy. And you deserve it. You really do. Just think of how far following your heart can take you!

Kingships and dynasties learned the practice early on. King Rehoboam of Judah followed his as far back as 980 B.C. and enjoyed his reign for 17 long(ish) years. Queens from the earliest age have done it, passionately burning subjects at the stake when disagreement with their beliefs surfaced (shoutout to Bloody Mary). Empires have arisen, think about the Mongols who nearly invaded the entire continent of Asia (ehem, the largest land mass in the world) over the course of just 50 years! That’s a land the size of nearly four Americas, commandeered in less than a lifetime!!

Not, of course, to discount the successful dictatorship aroused by a single man who led people into gas chambers and concentration camps as he followed his ever-deserving heart. All fueled by the grit of human perseverance, the motor of which is the heart — insatiable desire for more.

Yes, in the sea of mighty accomplishments, it can get overwhelming. But your desire for more is powerful. You could be the next revolutionary. Pile up the posts, papers, towers, kingdoms, bodies to make what you truly want. You — yes you! — have a unique ability to do something amazing, and a momentous capacity to earn recognition. Just think about it. The next era could be named after you. All you need is a little bit of fame. All you need is to follow your heart. 

That is the scream of modern media — the mantra of today’s average mind. Children are programmed on it. In the past it may have been thought that for a person to truly blind themselves to all other paths and pursue their hearts’ desires with such staunch effort would be possible only for monarchs and revolutionaries. Now we are all told we are monarchs and revolutionaries — at least that we contain reduced versions of them waiting for their reign within our fleshy beating hearts. Everyone grows up taught that the best cure for recurrent desire is to let it control them.

“Let go! Follow your heart! Chase your dreams!” they say, but the very thing we claim makes us free always enslaves us. Is what our hearts desire really worthy of being our masters?

The basis of the ‘follow your heart’ sham is, of course, truth. An inner monarch does exist. A revolutionary does await the opportunity of an insurrection. We long for power over what we want. The whole world seems to agree that freedom is found when we carefully foster the ideas of the little visionaries in us. Cultures are built around this sort of religion based on ‘revealing our true selves - becoming who we really want to be’. But don’t we have it backwards?

Sure, the ability of the human heart to cause significant change is clear (it was an intentional strength given to us by our Creator). Creativity, persistence in pursuit of our passions are glimpses of He in whose image we were formed. The desires of our heart, however — the object of our work? History and present times alike prove them crude and perverted, unworthy of our pursuit. 

The human heart though powerful is bent toward destruction. The Word says we are tainted from the moment we exist — weak but desiring our own strength instead of His. It repeats that the human heart is “deceitfully wicked,” — almost without cause because of all the ways it has been painted on the pages of history. Revisit the examples above. Need I name more? What about David’s affair with Bathsheba and murder of her husband — Judas’ betrayal of Jesus — even (and especially) modern examples like the attack of 9/11 and the cruel abandonment of American citizens in Iraq? Look at the products of the human heart and try to smile as you say it. “Follow your heart.” Sometimes our dreams become other people’s nightmares. It can effect families — or countries! — at a time.

Yes, beautiful things can come from human desire. Our creativity presents itself in helpful ways that earn prestige in society. But when it comes down to it, was the prestige our only motive? Was it delighting ourselves by indulging in our own goodness? What part of us is really good? 

Paul reminds us of the Old Testament refrain, “No one is righteous, — not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.” (Romans 3:10) Why would we follow something deceitfully wicked — the very vessel that is capable of drawing us away from true goodness? Because fame, glory, wealth, acceptance, peace, happiness are objects worth dying for — enslaving ourselves to them is natural, they say. But is it worth a lifetime? What good are our desires in comparison to the love of Christ? 

The human heart disappoints. Desires can never be fulfilled by anything the world can offer — so is the dirge of every revolutionary or sleepless dreamer who sacrificed their lives to following their hearts. Human desire is a bottomless pit — never satisfied with how much it’s taking, ever widening until it swallows itself up with the inevitable ending of death.

The heart of Jesus is different. Not only does His goodness never run out, He never changes, nor does He require to be earned. If desires enslave us to their object, what better object to be enslaved to than the ever compassionate heart of He who knows us and loves us still? 

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all that you do and he will show you which path to take.” There is one thing that is certain, desiring the Lord will never leave one bored, and never unsatisfied. He gives to those who ask Him and has a future prepared for all of us. Unlike every end that requires work, His peace and love requires nothing of us. He gave His love completely. He pours out immeasurable amounts of peace and joy. Our action comes only afterward — from an abundance of gratitude, not a necessity to acquire. And that’s without even considering how undeserving we stand.

It is good to set goals — but stop to ask yourself why. Don’t get down the road and wonder if God is happy with the goal you are pursuing. Seek His heart. And you know what? It’s ok to wonder if you’re doing the right thing down the road. Go to Him with your doubts. Seek Him again. All He requires is to be asked — He won’t withhold the truth from you. He won’t keep you from what you are supposed to do.

Seek Him and He will show you which path to take. Not the easiest. Not the most beautiful or even the most exciting that will make your heart throb with anticipation. But the best. Based on His never changing love — His compassionate desire to love His people and show His love for the world through them. What remarkable grace He gives — that we are free from the slavery of our desires — from following our heart!

What a gift to follow His!

©Goodstrong Words Aug. 2022