Don't Follow Your Heart

Imagine that I've taken you to a quaint coffee shop for a treat. I've just handed you a steaming mocha latte. Your favorite. Smiling your thanks, you sit down, and take a small sip. Suddenly, a strange, steely glint enters my eyes. "The coffee has been poisoned. You have less than twenty-four hours to live," I say in a low voice.

Another sip. I crease my brow in confusion. I expected fear and panic to grip you, and sobs to shake your body. Instead, you lazily stir the latte with a straw and comment on its flavor. But stop— Why? Why didn't you run out of the coffee shop, wailing in distress? What triggered your careless reaction?

It's obvious, of course. You didn't believe me.

Girls are emotional. There's just no getting around it. You probably know what I'm talking about; happy on one day, and feeling like the world is crashing around you the next. Smiling in the morning, and then crying—sometimes for no discernible reason— only a few hours later. I speak from personal experience. It happens. And apparently, changing feelings are the norm in other areas, too. Turn on the radio, and you'll be instantly barraged by a host of songs about it. We're told that we can simply "fall in", and then "fall out" of love, as if we have no control over our feelings. Oh, honey, I'm so in love with you... I'm just crazy about you... oops, now I'm not. I'm sorry, dear. Goodbye. The world tells us to rely on our feelings, and follow our hearts. And romance is only one of the many spheres that are effected; the principle of depending on our emotions for guidance clearly extends much farther.

Beliefs influence thoughts, and thoughts influence feelings. One way or another, all our emotions, both positive and negative, overflow from what we're inwardly convinced of. Think about it. If you believed that I had poisoned the latte, you would have had an entirely different response.

So, what am I getting at? Don't ever go to a coffee shop with a Beauty from the Heart contributor if you value your life? No, not really. My point is actually serious, and I don't want you to miss it.

As Christians, we often allow our emotions to wreak havoc with us. We don't always feel like God loves us. We don't always feel zealous for the gospel. We don't always feel overwhelmed with joy. We don't always feel forgiven. We deeply desire to feel these things, but sometimes... well, the feelings just aren't there.

The core issue here is still belief.

Take a look at Job. On a day during the height of his enjoyment of God's blessings—without any warning—two things happen that change his life forever. A breathless servant arrives, carrying a message: Job's wealth has been obliterated. Before he has even a second to absorb this, another messenger arrives, with even worse news. Job's children have met sudden, violent deaths. And what does he do? Not what most people would expect. Job stuns me. He falls to the ground, and there, face down... he worships. He worships! In the midst of Job's greatest crisis, the exclamation, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised" springs spontaneously from his lips. It blows my mind. Job's reaction doesn't make rational sense. In fact, it defies cause and effect. How could his first, knee-jerk reaction be to praise God? Acceptance is one thing, but adoration?

There's only one explanation. Job's emotional response came from a firm, unshakable conviction. It was his belief in the goodness of his God that compelled him to humble worship. Job's relationship with God wasn't based off of circumstances, or the feelings produced by those circumstances. The reason he didn't "curse God and die", as his wife advised, was because his relationship with God rested on one solid, reliable foundation. Truth.

Fred Webedou used to tell a story about a terrifying experience he had as a fighter pilot in the Vietnam war. At times, a thick blanket of white fog would surround the entire plane. Nothing else was visible, either above or below. After some time, a panicked feeling of disorientation would begin to creep in. This sensation would grow in intensity, and become overpowering to the point where it felt like the plane was flying upside down. Instead of trusting the instruments, many pilots allowed their senses to dictate their course of action. In desperate attempts to "right the plane", they blindly maneuvered headlong into the ground. The pilots were warned not to heed their instinctual feelings, but to devote their whole attention to the instruments instead. Fred testified that this took a tremendous amount of willpower, but it saved his life.

If we allow ourselves to be directed by our feelings, we will quickly find ourselves obscured in fog, upside down, and headed for disaster. Our relationship with God will prove to be a painfully shallow and inadequate, and when difficult circumstances ensue, whatever semblance of a relationship is left will invariably buckle. We need a stronger foundation— a foundation informed by the truth and supported by belief, not sustained by emotions. Only this kind of relationship will enable us to produce God-glorifying feelings in any circumstance.

Christ wants to have full reign over of us, and that includes our emotions. He wants us to trust Him, and not fear. To be filled with peace, not anger. To brim with joy in His love, not sink under the weight of anxiety. Whether we encounter challenging or pleasant situations, He desires our feelings to be guided by Him. And the only way that this can happen is if we deliberately choose to immerse ourselves in the Word of God, confidently placing our trust in the beautiful truths He reveals there. Our emotions simply are not trustworthy enough gauges to lead us. We must first get a grip on the solid, unchangeable Truth, and believe it. Then, when our fluctuating emotions start to wreak havoc with us, we can put them in their place— in submission to the Lord of our hearts.