Follow Your Heart

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit,” (Psalm 51:10-12, NASB).

One of the most misleading pieces of advice we will hear is the recommendation to follow our heart. God says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NASB). We all enter life with a inclination toward sin and selfishness, and there is no way we ourselves can change this. Instead of trusting a sinful heart, what we really need is a new, clean heart, and only the Lord can give us one.

Our heavenly Father sent His Son into this world to die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins. Only in that way could we be forgiven and receive a clean heart from which flow holy desires and ambitions. Through Christ, we are set apart for God, welcomed into His family as adopted children, and indwelt by His Spirit.

Thanks to our new heart and the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence, we are enabled to live a righteous life of obedience to the Lord. Instead of living with a deceptive heart, we can now draw near to God in fellowship and understand the truth of His Word. With gratitude for our new heart, let’s rely on the Spirit’s power to help us discern error and make wise decisions.

Jeff