Foolish Heart

Foolish heart, hear me calling
Stop before you start falling
Foolish heart, heed my warning
You’ve been wrong before
Don’t be wrong any more
–Steve Perry, Foolish Heart

Love songs aren’t always a good source of information for relationships.  But I think Steve Perry was onto something with this one.

Like it or not, our emotions have tremendous power to influence our judgment.  Our heart can make us believe things that simply aren’t true.  Our hearts can make us say things like this:

“I know he’s not good for me, but I love him—I can’t let him go.”
“I know I have no future with her, but I just can’t stop these feelings.”
“I shouldn’t do this, but it feels so right.”

The Bible speaks of the foolish, sinful nature of our hearts.  Consider these passages:

The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

-Jeremiah 17:9

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.

-Proverbs 14:12

You can’t always trust your heart—sometimes it is the last thing you should trust.  I would encourage you to instead base your decisions on biblical wisdom.

He who trusts in himself is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

-Proverbs 28:26

Published by

Kevin

I am a follower of Jesus, husband, pastor, author, and caffeine addict. Please follow me on Facebook or Twitter. You may also want to consider subscribing to the RSS feed.

17 thoughts on “Foolish Heart”

  1. So it’s not wise to believe in the phrase “just follow your heart…” scheme.

    I was struggling with my heart a few years ago. My heart told me to go back into a “not-so-good” relationship that had ended for some reasons.

    My friends told me to “follow my heart”. But when I sought God’s word, the pages of the Bible just fell on Job 41:8 “remember the battle and do no more”.

    That experience with God’s word was so real and powerful. It seemed God just leaped out from the page of the Bible and slapped me back into reality– the reality that the relationship is not worth fighting for.

    I obeyed His Word. I’m still searching for answers why he didn’t allow me into that relationship but while doing so, I have peace in my heart and that is something I wouldn’t trade anything for. I know He had stored the BEST for me.

    You know people, it’s a foolish thing to follow the heart. Our hearts can actually deceive us. But God’s Word won’t. Search it and you’ll find answers…just like I did!

  2. What if you met someone whom you think would be good for you but he doesn’t feel the same way? what then? that would hurt too.

    Just asking…

  3. bout d last passage…

    “He who trusts in himself is a fool,
    but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.”
    -Proverbs 28:26

    isn’t it possible to both trust in oneself and walk in wisdom at the same time?
    I mean it doesnt necessarily mean that people who walk in wisdom basically don’t trust themselves
    But ur message, to me, basically discourages us to go for what we feel most of doing by following our hearts…
    which I think is a bad thing and in the end, it only causes repression since we HAVE TO SUPRESS our ‘hearts’ because it’s deceitful.
    So again, there’s a conflict between happiness (either deceivingly fake or true) and righteousness according to the bible

    My point is that life is not about being right against being happy… it’s finding the balance in both

  4. Kaizzie,

    I think you are missing the point of this whole post. The point is our hearts/emotions can deceive us at times.

    As to being happy vs being right: God calls us to obey Him–even if it isn’t what we want to do that the time. God never said “Follow me if you think it will make you happy.”

  5. I think we should both use wisdom and our hearts.

    I mean, someone could be right for you but if you have no emotional feelings for the person, even if he/she has for you, you still won’t be happy or vice versa.

    I think the point here is, that to not let your emotions get all of you because you might think now that this one (relationship or whatever it is) seem or feels good right now but you know, in the end, you will get hurt.

    And I know this well, been there and am there and it’s not an easy battle but in cases like this, use your head.

  6. I think the point here is, that to not let your emotions get all of you because you might think now that this one (relationship or whatever it is) seem or feels good right now but you know, in the end, you will get hurt.

    Bingo! You got it!

  7. one thing I am learning these days is to put Scripture over emotion, and make decisions based on the word. The Word!

  8. hello everybody!

    thanks for that very nice notions shared i got an idea from it now.God bless you more

  9. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” – Jeremiah 17:9

    Just thought I’d chime in and give that passage of Scripture for additional biblical wisdom.

    Thanks for dropping by our blog and we hope you could visit us often. 🙂

  10. Oopsss… Sorry, my eyes must have tricked me, I didn’t see that it was already up there.

    Anyway, for what it’s worth, I have been in my Christian journey for more than a year already and yes, nothing beats biblical wisdom. Where matters of the heart is concerned, it is always wiser to seek God’s word for a clearer direction. Warren and I have been married 11 months and have known each other only 1 year and 2 months, there’s a lot of differences and a lot of personality clashes but being married to Christ first and above all makes a whole lot of difference. If we aren’t Christians actively seeking God through His words, we would have had called it quits a long time ago.

    I hope I made sense and I hope my little tirade made sense. 🙂

    Again, Kevin, thanks for the blog hop.

  11. I really love reading your blogs Kuya Kevin.. Especially, when I feel down..It really helps a lot, me to feel better.. I am now starting making my own blogs hoping I could also help people emotionally thru blogs… GOD Bless you more@

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