Christians’ hearts should follow, not be followed

Should Christians follow their hearts?

Should we receive guidance, instruction and other communication from an inner voice that we call our heart?

The Bible’s pretty clear about the heart of man, that it’s above all deceitful and wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), that trusting it is foolish (Proverbs 28:26), and that all kinds of evil proceed from it (Matthew 15:19).

But some people counter that a born-again Christian has a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), replacing the one those verses describe, and therefore can be trusted and followed.

Does that mean that when we sense something within, we can be sure that it’s our new inner man and not the sinful flesh that remains?

Our heart is not God

Let’s see what the New Testament has to say about the heart of a Christian.

It’s a lot; we believe with our hearts, we worship with our hearts, we serve with our hearts, we love with our hearts. These are things we could never do before but can now, because God gives us a new heart.

But even though those things are enabled and empowered by God, they are still things that we do. Our hearts are regenerate, enlightened and judicially righteous before God, but they’re still our hearts; the heart is not an extension of the person(s) of God within us.

It makes sense, then, that in the multitude of Scriptures that mention our hearts, none of them tells us to be led by our hearts, for that would be us leading ourselves, even now.

Consider 1 John 3:20 — “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” That verse, written to believers, teaches that God is distinct from our hearts; our heart is not God, and therefore is not something we should put our trust in, even now.

Led by the Spirit

Our heart is not the thing to be followed; rather, it’s our heart that does the following. We are led not by our hearts, but by the Lord through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-14, Galatians 5:16-25).

How does the heart do that? The Holy Spirit does dwell within us, but He leads us first and foremost through His word, the Scriptures. We see in those Scriptures that He also uses Biblically informed wisdom, conscience, providence and other believers, but God governs and leads our hearts through His word.

The Bible, not our hearts, is our first and final authority.