xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#'UA-81427306-1 Wisdom and Folly: Follow You Heart?

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Follow You Heart?

"Take care lest your heart be lured away, and you turn astray and worship alien gods and bow down to them."  The Shema.  The heart can be lured away easily.  There was a young man who grew up in a religious family.  He was well aware of the scriptures.  One day the young man met a girl with whom he quickly fell in love.  The girl was not from a religious family.  In fact, they were anti-religious. The two enjoyed spending time together.  After a short time, the two were engaging in sexual relations.  The girl's family liked the boy.  They accepted him.  After seeing each other for nearly six months, the boy's parents were less than pleased with the situation.  There was a great deal of tension in the house.  The young man finally decided, at the prodding of the girl and her family, to move in with her and her family.  The girl was proud of her boyfriend because he'd followed his heart and left his own family.  Was this the best thing for him?  Stories like this happen every day across the world; people following their heart.  But didn't God warn us not to let our hearts be lured away?

The heart is filled with emotions.  We're all aware of it.  These emotions take control of our lives if we let them.  People who are passionate about what they do credit that with following their heart. This can be a good thing in the right person and under the right circumstances.  However, as we saw in the example above, it can be a bad thing as well.  So what can you do when you're in the middle of it and everything is coming towards you at the speed of life.  The heart pulls in many directions at the same time.  Any of these directions might be the perfect path for your life.  How can you know?  That is where the mind comes into play.

The mind uses logic to make decisions.  It doesn't use emotions at all.  The mind weighs options.  It's almost mechanical.  Had the boy in the example only used his mind, he might have stopped to think that his parents knew better.  His future success in life will most likely be hindered because he followed his heart instead of using his mind to fully discern the situation.

There is a balance that we must find within ourselves between the heart and the mind.  People who only follow their hearts usually wind up being pulled in different directions throughout their lives. Someone who finds balance will choose one of those paths that suit the desire of their heart, but will do so logically.  These people tend to stay on that path and pursue it passionately.

Deuteronomy 11:13 "And it will be, if you hearken to My commandments that I command you this day to love the Lord, your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 I will give the rain of your land at its time, the early rain and the latter rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. 15 And I will give grass in your field for your livestock, and you will eat and be sated. 16 Beware, lest your heart be misled, and you turn away and worship strange gods and prostrate yourselves before them."

In the passage above God is saying to serve Him with all of your heart, and if you do He tells the reward.  In the same passage, He warns that your heart can be misled.  So what we are seeing is that He is saying to use your mind and make a conscious decision to use all of your heart to serve Him. You must use your mind to make decisions.  That is its job.  The heart's job is to provide the passion with which execute those decisions.    
   

Copyright 2016 by
William Bouker  

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