“You don’t fall in love. You fall into ditches.
You plan your love life!”
Pastor John Turansky
Pacific Islands Bible Church
Mililani, Hawaii
That way of thinking seemed totally wrong and completely weird to me when I first heard it! I mean, aren’t you supposed to “listen to your heart” when it comes to making decisions and doing the right thing? No!! You have to be smarter than that. Listen to your heart and you will end up being ruled by your feelings, emotions and every thought that falls into your head.
What motivates you today may not be what motivates you tomorrow and what seems so right at the moment can result in serious regret later on. I think of the timeshare my husband and I bought in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We were still raw with emotion after the death of my mother-in-law, wondering where and how the family would gather now that she and the family farm were gone; a very clever salesman helped us follow our hearts right into a contract we regret to this day!
The reverse can also be true. I heard of a speaker at a dinner for a crisis pregnancy center who, when asking for an offering said, “People always say just let your heart lead you. Well, I don’t know about you, but the bible tells me, my heart is deceitfully wicked. When I ask my heart how much to give it says, ‘I can’t afford it, move on’.”
How many people do we know who have followed their hearts right off the cliff of all reason and continued to enable, in the name of “love”, an addicted, abusive, manipulating and destructive family member? And how many lives have been ruined by an unforgiving, hate-filled heart bent on revenge, a hardened heart that believes the lie “the end justifies the means”, or a broken heart making rash decisions and taking action in the heat of passion? No. You cannot follow your heart. “The man that trusts in his own heart is a fool because the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure”.
So what are we to do? Try this: Make like a car at a railroad crossing. Stop! Look and Listen! The Message puts it this way: “Listen to what God says and do what He tells you to do! Trust 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. Don’t assume that you know it all”.
Proverbs 3:5 Proverbs 28:26 Jeremiah 17:9
Don’t make decisions when you’re angry.
Don’t make promises when you’re happy.
