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One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.
follow the leader
follow your heart
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For all its accolades and celebrated recognition as sound guidance, I have personally noticed that sometimes, 'follow your heart,' is really bad advice. ~Steve Maraboli
"Follow your heart" is really popular advice and you can find thousands of quotes saying that you should always follow your heart, and assuring you that you'll never go wrong if you do. It's a hugely popular theme in music and movies - just follow your heart! But it's not always good advice. In fact, sometimes it's horrible advice, depending on what definition of heart we're following.
Most people today think of their heart as where their emotions and dreams come from. Where romantic love comes from. All the feelings. While it may usually be a good thing for us to pursue a career path that is something we're passionate about, and it's often good to listen to our gut or instinct, it can be incredibly foolish to be ruled by our emotions and feelings.
Don't let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after Him. He will never fail you. ~Charles Spurgeon
To the Bible writers, the heart was not so much about love and emotions, but more about decision making and thought processes. And there are lots of Scripture passages warning against following our own ideas and feelings. God instructed the Israelites to put tassels on their clothes as reminders to be obedient to him and not to follow their own hearts.
You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.
~Numbers 15:39~
The one who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
but the one who walks in wisdom will escape.
~Proverbs 28:26~
What does the Bible tell us to follow? Time and again, the instructions are to follow God's commands and to follow Jesus.
It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.
~Deuteronomy 13:4~
Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.
~Deuteronomy 29:9~
"Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."
~John 12:25-26~
Don't follow your heart. God did not design our hearts to be followed, but to be led. ~Jon Bloom
We are always much better off following our leader, Jesus. He created our hearts and minds, gives us hopes and dreams that he wants us to pursue and fulfill by living life his way. When we get our hearts lined up with him, we will find joy and happiness. If our hearts follow Jesus, that's when we can follow our hearts. When Jesus says, "Follow me," we can trust that he knows exactly where he's going to take us, and it will be good, and it will be for our good.
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."
~John 10:27-28~
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
~I Corinthians 11:1~
The world says love yourself, grab all you can, follow your heart. Jesus says deny yourself, grab your cross and follow me. ~Francis Chan
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Kym, this is great advice! Follow your Leader (Jesus), don't follow your heart. He will always guide us into truth.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed this before, "do not follow after your own heart" in Numbers 15. This is why we keep reading and studying. We learn from the Word all the time!
yes, there's always something new to learn! Sometimes it's a wording in a different translation that strikes me a little differently and I think this was one of those
DeleteI'm so glad we are led by the Good Shepherd, Kym!
ReplyDeleteSo well said. We should not be ruled by our emotions or follow a plan outside of God's desire for us. The Bible verses that you listed give great instruction!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing all of the quotes! I have had an emotional week, and the reminder that my heart needs to be led by God, is very timely. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm glad it was good timing for you. Have a great weekend and thanks for commenting!
DeleteSuch a good post, Kym! You made such a good point in saying our hearts were not meant to lead but to be led. May our hearts long to follow Jesus who will always lead us on right paths.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Kym. We are always much better off following our leader, Jesus, for sure. What a poignant message.
ReplyDeleteFMF#15
Thanks for sharing all this scripture, Kym. Some days, it's so easy to just follow where we think our hearts want us to go. We need to remember just exactly who our leader is.
ReplyDeletehttps://marshainthemiddle.com/
They always say that you should follow
ReplyDeleteyour heart, but, dude, this really begs
the question, "Is this counsel hollow?",
because our hearts have not got legs.
They'd just squishily roll along
to their lub-dub-lub-dub beat,
and it would really feel so wrong
to be compelled to take my feet
in the wake of this hot mess
that like a slug just oscillates
with no advance and no progress,
and leads not up to Heaven's gates,
but only to grim stolid stasis
built on foundation of disgraces.
This is such great advice! We should always check our hearts to see who or what we are following. We always need to remember Who's voice we should be listening for.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful insight. We always need to know what heart we are following: Our heart (will and emotions) or Jesus' heart? FMF #8
ReplyDeleteI love this and love following Jesus!
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteWise words.