The Worst Advice Ever!

I saw this over at "The Blazing Center" today, written by Mark Altrogge. But before I list his posting, let me say this....

I really appreciate the Scriptural basis for Mark's message. It is one of the central themes of my teaching and it pops up in my sermons from time to time.

I love and cherish that we are being made into new creatures by a God that loves us and sacrificed His only Son to die in our place for our sins. But I also want to be careful to understand that the process is not yet complete. The word for "transformed" in Rom 12:2 is a present passive imperative. This means that we are to be transformed and to continue being transformed by God. To keep it simple, it means there is still work to do in my heart. While becoming a heart of flesh, it is still in transformation (2 Cor 3:18). I still have a way to go before my heart is a heart that is totally sold out to God for His purposes, seeking nothing more than his desires in my life.

Meanwhile, I need to have a foundation and an objective criteria to measure the motivations that rise up from my transforming heart. The only resource I can count on...is the Word of God.

Here's how Mark puts it:

I’m going to give you the worst advice anyone could give anyone. Ready? Here it is:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART

In other words, make decisions based solely on whether you feel “peace” about them.

To “follow your heart” is a prescription for disaster. Here’s why:

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
(Jeremiah 17:9)

This is an unbeliever’s heart – rotten to the core, deceitful, sick. God gives believers new hearts (EZEK 36.26) and his Spirit to guide us. But the old heart is still there, waiting to trip us up if we’re not careful. So, even though we have new hearts, the Spirit of God guides us by his sure and certain Word, not by our feelings.

[105] Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)

Every decision we make needs to be brought under the spotlight of God’s word, not the murky fog of feelings. Our feelings are the worst barometer of truth that exists. God’s Word is the true and unfailing barometer of truth. If we neglect God’s word, we’ll fall. If we store it up in our hearts it will deliver us from sin’s snares.

What are you listening to today – your heart, or God’s Word?