"Trust His Leading"

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9 

You all have heard the phrase- "Be led by (follow) your heart". It's a sweet thought and popular one, but a wrong one. It is dangerous, in most cases, to be led by your heart. The Bible says that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. They will often lead us astray, because they lead us toward their own wants and desires. 

 

There is only one sure way to be led-- by the Spirit of God. The Spirit will never lead us in the wrong direction. He will never lead us in a way that is destructive or hurtful. He will always lead us on the path of life. Whereas our own hearts see something they want and will pursue it often without regard to whether it is best for us and will actually convince us that it is the best. How many people have pursued "pipedreams" because their hearts wanted to do it. How many have been in relationships with the wrong person because their heart wanted it. Even Christian people- they convinced themselves that it was the right thing to do because it "felt" right in their hearts. 

 

The only time we can trust our hearts in leading us in the right direction is when our hearts are totally surrendered to the Lord and have been sanctified to His will. It is only when He creates in us a clean heart-- removing the deceit and wicked desires-- that we can trust that the motives of our hearts are pure. It is only when we love the Lord with all our heart that there is no room for any of our own desires to lead us.

 

No, we can't be led by our hearts. But God Himself promises to lead us as we seek Him. We can't trust our hearts, but we can trust that as we surrender them more and more to the Lord, He will put His desires within them. When He does, we can trust that though we can't be led by them, they will not be able to lead us astray as they once did.

 

Have a great day. We can't be led by our hearts, but we can be led by the Spirit of God. 

 

For further reading:

Romans 8:14

Mark 12:30; 7:21,22

Psalm 51:10

Jeremiah 24:7