Don’t Follow Your Heart

Just a few more weeks and it will be Christmas again!

The Christmas tree needs to be set up….. but to be honest, I don’t have the energy to do it!

When I look at old pics of the Chrismas tree, it triggers a lot of wonderful memories when the children and grandchildren were much younger.

Memories of opening the presents around the tree!

Memories of the family concerts, with each child giving an item in song or recitation!

Memories of swimming in the pool together after a sumptuous lunch which all the family enjoyed!

Memories of watching the youngest granddaughter learn to swim in this pool and take her place in the packing order of the family!

Thats why I like taking photos of events and things be they small or great, because in years to come it may trigger a memory that you will cherish.

Which leads me to write this article which was triggered in my memory by an old radio I once owned.

It was an old Astor AWA radio exactly the same as the one below.

Accidentally it fell from my bed side table and smashed into pieces.

I had kept it all these years as an antique and now it was gone.

However the memories it engendered are still with me even after 60 years.

It’s amazing what emotions and thoughts the memory can conjure up!

As a teenager growing up in a christian home my parents kept a strict rein on me.

Anything ‘worldly’ was not permitted in our home.

However being the inquisitive ‘naughty’ boy that I was, I was determined to explore the world of popular music and in particular ‘country music’.


My parents didn’t know it but I secretly listened under my pillow on a Saturday morning on my old Astor radio to a Hillbilly show on 5DN.

I used to love listening to “hillbillies” although my parents didn’t approve.

Blokes like Smokey Dawson, Slim Dusty and Reg Lindsay to name just a few.

One of my favourite singers was an American country singer named Hank Williams.

‘Anything American had to be better than our country singers’ I thought!

He had this swanky southern drawl that sounded like he was crying.

He used to sing a song that got into my head and heart in 1953.

It was called …..“Your Cheatin’ Heart”.

It wasn’t till I had lived life, that I came to realise how deceptive my heart really was.

Which is why I want to chat about the issues of the heart!

Now this is serious stuff so you need to read it carefully!

I read this article the other day from a book written by Jon Bloom. If you click on the title it will show you where you can buy it.

Don’t Follow Your Heart

 “Follow your heart” is a creed embraced by billions of people. It’s a statement of faith in one of the great pop-cultural myths of the Western world — a gospel proclaimed in many of our stories, movies, and songs.

Essentially, it’s a belief that your heart is a compass inside of you that will direct you to your own true north if you just have the courage to follow it.

It says that your heart is a faithful guide that will lead you to true happiness if you just have the courage to listen and act.

The creed says that you are lost and your heart will save you.

This creed can sound so simple and beautiful and liberating. It’s a tempting gospel to believe.

Until you consider that your heart has sociopathic tendencies.

Is This the Leader You Want to Follow?

Think about it for a moment. What does your heart tell you?

Please don’t answer. Your heart has likely said things today that you would not wish to repeat. I know mine has.

My heart tells me that all of reality ought to serve my desires. My heart likes to think the best of me and worst of others — unless those others happen to think well of me, then they are wonderful people.

But if they don’t think well of me, or even if they just disagree with me, well then, something is wrong with them.

And while my heart is pondering my virtues and others’ errors, it can suddenly find some immoral or horribly angry thought very attractive.

The “follow your heart” creed certainly isn’t found in the Bible.

The Bible actually thinks our hearts have a disease: “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Jesus, the Great Physician, lists the grim symptoms of this disease: “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19). This is not leadership material.

The truth is that no one lies to us more than our own hearts; No one!

They don’t tell us the truth, they just tell us what we want. They are not benevolent, they are pathologically selfish.

In fact, if we do what our hearts tell us to do we will pervert and impoverish every desire, every beauty, every person, every wonder, and every joy.

Our hearts want to consume these things for our own self-glory and self-indulgence.

No, our hearts will not save us. We need to be saved from our hearts.

This is the Leader You Need to Follow.

Our hearts were never designed to be followed, but to be led.

Our hearts were never designed to be gods in whom we believe; they were designed to believe in God.

If we make our hearts gods and ask them to lead us, they will lead us to narcissistic misery and ultimately damnation.

They cannot save us, because what’s wrong with our hearts is the heart of our problem.

But if our hearts believe in God, as they are designed to, then God saves us (Hebrews 7:25) and leads our hearts to exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

Therefore, don’t believe in your heart; direct your heart to believe in God.

Don’t follow your heart; follow Jesus. He is your shepherd (Psalm 23; John 10). Listen to his voice in his word and follow him (John 10:27). 

Oh and by the way, in case you’ve never heard it before, here is a young Hank Williams Jnr. singing his Dad’s famous old country song…..’Your Cheatin’ Heart’……..Love that old 50s look with the Brylcreem hairstyle.…lol…..take a listen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Response to “Don’t Follow Your Heart”

  1. Richard Bruinsma Says:

    Hi Ps Evans. Great piece. I had never thought of that. Thanks for giving me something to ponder and consider. Richard

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