Blinded By The “Heart”

by Bryan Gibson

While we’re on the subject of things that blind us to the truth, we might as well deal with another one. The way people “believe in their heart” is another big hindrance to believing and obeying the truth. Confronted with a passage that clearly shows them to be wrong, some will respond with a statement like, “I’m sorry, but I just know in my heart I’m right.” Some are even brazen enough to say, “I’d rather have feeling than Scripture.”

But feelings of the heart are not always a reliable guide, are they? “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25). “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26). Judah was condemned because they “walked according to the dictates of their own heart” (Jeremiah 9:14). A few simple conclusions from these passages: We can “feel” certain that we’re right, but still be very wrong. A “heart” that is not trained by the word of God can lead us in all the wrong directions—just ask the people of Judah to whom Jeremiah spoke. Feelings should never take the place of what the Scriptures teach to be true and right (note the contrast in Proverbs 28:26).

The Lord does want us to have feelings of confidence and assurance, but those feelings should come from knowing and doing His will. A few passages from 1 John should be enough to prove this point: “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments…But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3, 5). “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22, note the earlier references to confidence and assurance in vv. 19, 21).

So feelings do have their place. Let’s just make sure those feelings are produced by obedience to God’s will. It is when we completely submit to His will that we can say, “it is well with my soul.”