Follow Me

Friday Uplift 11/1/24

By Jami Shaw

A saying that has taken off in our society over the past 20 years or so is to “follow your heart”.  For every decision, people tell you to just “follow your heart”, whatever the decision is, follow your heart  and you’ll be happy.  Unfortunately, this is the mindset of too many people in our culture today.  However we see in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” If you have ever been a teenager, and especially if you have ever raised a teenager, you can see how horribly things can turn out for someone when they just “follow their heart”.  Our hearts do not make wise decisions. 

We recently had a workshop at our congregation on the subject of “Living with Loss”.  Our speaker described “making a decision with your feeler [heart] instead of your thinker [brain] can often lead to disastrous or unhealthy consequences.  Our feelers don’t care about facts”  Our hearts do not allow us to make wise decisions when it is running in overdrive, in fact it is usually the opposite.  Many times it’s when our hearts are in that overdrive state that we want to use it most to make our decisions.  

What does the Bible tell us to do when it comes to following our hearts?  Numbers 15:  38 “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. 39 And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, 40 and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”  

From the beginning, God tells His people to follow His commandments because our hearts are inclined to do things which will lead us in the wrong direction.  Jesus told His disciples in Matthew that the heart is what can defile a man Matthew 15: 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

If we can’t follow our hearts, then what are we to follow?  Even our brains sometimes can lead us astray.  Jesus also answered that question for us in Luke 9:23-24 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

There are over 20 verses where Jesus says to someone in some way “follow Me.” Just look at how Jesus recruited the twelve apostles. Matthew 4: 18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  The first thing the apostles had to do in order to be an apostle was make a hard decision and leave everything to follow Christ.  They all immediately walked away from their work to follow Him.  I don’t know that my heart or my brain would have been able to make that decision.  To walk away from everyone I loved and everything that I have worked so hard to build to follow after someone else.  I’m afraid I would have fallen into the same category as the rich young ruler we see in Matthew 19 starting in verse 16.  I might even answer Jesus similarly to how this young man did.  I’m a good person, I obey the rules, I am not a thief or a liar.  However, Christ said to really be perfect like we need to be we must follow Him.  Matthew 19:20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  The young man went away with strong feelings, sorrow.  He followed his heart instead of Jesus.  He walked away from Christ.  

What happens when we follow Christ instead of our hearts?  Well Peter asked that very question if you keep reading Matthew 19: 27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” 28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 

John 12:25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.  Following Christ instead of our hearts will lead us to serve Him.  Serving Him will lead us to eternal life with more abundance that we can possibly imagine, and honor from the Father.  

If you love to hike, you know the best hikes are the ones that are usually the most isolated, the ones that take you deep into the forest, over rough terrain.  They are the hikes that test you.  You may have to cross some scary bridges that are just merely slippery rocks laid out across a stream.  You often stubble more than once on this hike and you’re on a constant look out for dangerous wildlife.  When you reach the end though, the view is like no other.  The view was worth the hike, but the feeling of accomplishment you get reaching the end, makes that view even more spectacular.

Let’s look at the comparison though, between following our hearts, as the world tells us, and following Christ.   Following our hearts can look and feel so much better on the journey, until we realize that this path has led us to sin, a deadend, and heartbreak.  Our heart has led us in a direction we no longer want to be going and there is no big payoff, as many hikers put it, for the work we did to reach that point.   Or we can follow Christ.  Our walks following Christ’s example may be a lot like that really good hike.The road might be more difficult, just as in the good hikes I mentioned. It may be lonely at times and we will stumble, but if we persist and stay close behind Christ, what a spectacular end to our journey.  The destination of Heaven will surely be worth it all.  

Let’s work this week at picking up our crosses and following Him instead of our wayward hearts.  Our “feelers” should never control our actions.  We must learn to control our emotions and stay close to our Shepherd. If we follow Him, we are His and He will not lead us astray like our hearts will.  John 10: 27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”  Grab a friend or two or a dozen and help them along the journey as well.  The more friends and family we invite on our journey to follow Christ, the less isolating that journey will be and the more special our destination will be when we all arrive.