What guides your heart?

Being the reflective person that I am, I've been thinking a lot about "feelings"... I've always been afraid of my feelings and other people's feelings.  Life has taught me that your heart can deceive you; that your heart cannot always be trusted.  Feelings are not constant, some days you are happy and other days you feel sad; feelings can change like the weather.  

Important decisions should not be made impulsively, based on one's feelings. I've always been one to think through things, logically. I've been accused of having no feelings, and of thinking with my head and not my heart. I've seen the consequences of people's decisions when they've followed their feelings and hurt others with their choices.  Sometimes our heart leads us into sin, which hurts God, hurts others and can hurt ourselves.  Growing up with all of these warnings and cautions I've felt afraid of feelings, to the extreme that I didn't want anything to do with my emotions.  I would despise feelings. I would supress my feelings, hopes and desires.

By locking my feelings away I feel that I have missed out on loving others well or experiencing joy in serving God. If God is the Creator of feelings, I don't believe He created them for me to lock them away.  For so long I've thought that feelings were evil.  But I'm learning that it's through feelings we can connect with people and with God.  Yes, I still believe our feelings have the potential to lead us onto wrong paths, that is if we allow our feelings to LEAD our lives.  But if we choose to surrender our hearts to God, to be guided by His truth and His Word, we can be lead to do compassionate things, to serve others before ourselves, etc.  The promise of joy will follow when we love others as Jesus commands.

I'm learning that God created feelings for our enjoyment. But if our heart leads us to disobey God then we should not follow our heart's advice, but rather His truth and wisdom.  It sounds complex and I'm still processing my thoughts about how my "feelings" can be used to bring God glory and honor.

It would be so easy to ignore and neglect God's way, by doing whatever I feel like doing, when I want to... by following every suggestion from my heart.  It might feel good for the moment, but where would it lead? Jesus be Lord of my heart and mind. Continue to lead me by your Word, which is Life and Truth.  Continue to show me your purpose for "feelings".  May I use them to serve you and others well, and not for selfish desires.

It's a question worth thinking about: What guides your heart?

For more thoughts about this topic visit this blog post.