Your heart is a liar.
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| Jon Tyson |
YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD the terrible advice in movies, on Instagram, or even in person from a friend or family member: Follow Your Heart.
For example: "Follow your heart: it knows the way."
Or this frightening quotation: "When you are in alignment with the desires of your heart, things have a way of working out."
The aphorism is so prevalent, you might conclude the advice originates somewhere in Scripture. In fact, the Bible tells us the opposite. Jeremiah 17:9 is a good example: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" Not exactly something you would want to follow, is it?
Solomon wrote about the heart in similar fashion. He wrote, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart" (Prov. 21:2). This passage is not as explicit as the one above, but is just as telling. Taking a deeper look will help us understand why it's unwise to follow your heart and what to do instead.
How Would You Weigh Your Heart?
Hiring managers at tech giant Google were once notorious for their unorthodox interview questions meant to gauge creativity and the problem-solving ability of applicants. These questions ranged from brain teasers to mathematical scenarios and everything in between. One alleged question, for example, is, "How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?"1
I used "alleged" because the legends of interviewing capers at the company have grown to such proportions, it is difficult to separate fact and fiction. While we may not know which reports are true, another of these questions has stuck with me ever since I first heard it: "How would you weigh your own head?"2
Being a part of a whole, and a rather essential part at that, one's own head is not something one can easily weigh. Common answers to the question include calculating volume via water displacement to use in mass calculation and lying down with the head resting on a specialized scale.
The bottom line: there is no easy way to accomplish this task, which is the question's purpose.
If you will allow me, I'll ask one more question. This one is similar, but the query doesn't originate with Google: How would you weigh your own heart?
Again, Solomon contemplates this conundrum in Proverbs 21:2, writing, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart." Rather than physical, this riddle is philosophical in nature. The heart here is a metaphor for our intentions, inclinations, and character.
Just like measuring the mass of your head, the proverb tells us it is impossible to weigh our own hearts, and only the Lord can do so accurately.
Why Can't We Weigh Our Own Hearts?
I find it interesting that the verse uses the verb, weigh, instead of something like judges, evaluates, or examines. No doubt its usage was intentional, as it would have resonated with Solomon's original audience.
Proper weights were critical in the ancient world. Scales required a balance, and merchants used a set of stones for weights as a standard by which to weigh precious metals as currency or to compare whatever the patron wished to purchase. For example, if someone wished to purchase an item for 400 shekels of silver (roughly ten pounds), the seller would first place stones on one side of the scale equivalent to 400 shekels and then fill the other side with silver until the scales balanced.
Unscrupulous merchants would have multiple sets of weights. One set would be heavier than advertised for use when weighing the buyer's payment (so the buyer would have to pay more silver). In this way, a seller could receive more money for the same amount of goods.
The Law of Moses explicitly forbids this practice, for example, Deuteronomy 25 which reads, "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small... For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God" (25:13, 16). The command also serves as a metaphor for treating others fairly.
But even when we desire to accurately measure our own hearts—our own motives, thoughts, and actions—the task is impossible. Why? Because the heart is deceitful, as Jeremiah reminds us.
From a practical standpoint, we can't properly judge ourselves because we cannot separate ourselves from the evaluation. It's a little like using a word in its own definition. As a result, we tend to show ourselves grace that we don't extend to others. We tend to excuse or write off white lies and lustful thoughts.
Practicalities aside, humanity is sinful. We all have sinned, and we inherit the sin nature from Adam. Genesis 6 describes the wickedness of the pre-flood human, stating that "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (6:5). And lest you think this only applies to those ancient people, Jesus also said to the crowds at the Sermon on the Mount, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7:11).
Jesus's point is that God is perfect and we are not. God is the standard; he holds the true set of weights in his bag. We deceive ourselves into thinking our ways are correct, but the Lord is the objective, unchanging standard by which we will be compared.
So is there any hope for any of us? How should we respond?
Don't follow your heart.
Instead, submit your heart to God for measurement, and repent where you fall short. Seek his will and guidance through prayer. And, of course, commit yourself to studying the Bible. The book of Hebrews is instructive here: "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (4:12).
God can use the living word to reveal to us the intentions of our hearts and convict us when necessary. So while your motivations might seem pure, place them on God's scale to see if they measure up.
And if you enjoyed this article, you might also like my quick reference guide to Jesus's parables, The 39 Parables of Christ, Explained.
The guide lists each parable and provides a brief explanation of its meaning. 39 Parables also includes a table listing which parables appear in which gospels.
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Notes:
1. Robert Johnson, “15 Google Interview Questions That Made Geniuses Feel Dumb,” Business Insider, November 27, 2012, https://www.businessinsider.com/15-google-interview-questions-that-used-to-make-geniuses-feel-dumb-2012-11.
2. I wrote about this same question some years ago in a different context. See: https://www.andrewgilmore.net/2016/01/how-jesus-frustrates-scientist-in-us-all.html.
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