I can’t be entirely certain that I’m quoting “Letters to Juliet” accurately, but over the course of the movie, the protagonist asks her older companion (who is looking for her lost love): “What is your heart telling you?”
It’s a theme echoed in a dozens of Hollywood films, in chick flicks, and in daytime television. “What does your heart say?”
And with it there’s the implicit command: “You should do as your heart demands.”
But is the heart a sage such that we should strain our ears to hear its every thought? Is the heart a guru such that we should follow its every instruction?
Jon Bloom spoke of the issue in an article he wrote for Desiring God:
“Princess Diana once said, ‘Only do what your heart tells you.’
This is a creed believed by millions. It’s a statement of faith in one of the great pop cultural myths of the Western world. It’s a gospel proclaimed in many of our stories, movies, and songs.
It states that your heart is a compass inside of you that will point you to your own true north if you can just see it clearly. Your heart is a true guide that will lead you to happiness if you can just tune into it. We are lost, and our heart will save us.
This sounds so simple and liberating. It’s tempting to believe.
Until you consider that your heart has sociopathic tendencies.”
Jon goes on to say:
“If our hearts are compasses, they are like Jack Sparrow’s.”
No, our hearts are not future-seeing, altruistic sages. They are self-seeking, antisocial slavers.
No, our hearts are not wise guides or powerful gurus. They are forever oscillating needles, unsure of true north or even of their own desires.
But if the heart is such a faulty sage, such a misleading guide, what is the purpose of the heart?
May I suggest that the heart’s purpose is not first to speak, but to hear; not to lead, but to be led?
May I suggest that the heart’s purpose–indeed our purpose–is not to be consumed with itself or to follow after itself, but to be consumed with another, lost in another?
We taste this in the sublimity of early love, when self’s considerations (even eating and sleeping) lose precedence to the exaltation of the beloved.
But this is only a foretaste of a much greater reality–the reality that I posit is part of our divine purpose in life.
To be lost in worship of the One who is so far greater than our hearts that our hearts must bow to His every whim.
David Brooks of The New York Times says:
“The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.”
HT: Justin Buzzard
But while Brooks talks of losing oneself in “tasks”, in general, I would argue that our purpose is not to be lost in “tasks” but in One Sacred Task.
Our heart’s purpose is to be lost glorying in Christ.
Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.
Our Maker and Lord tells us to, ‘Give *me* your heart’….
Following our own hearts lead us to greater and greater disaster, but placing our hearts in Christ, and following *His* way – that’s where to find true satisfaction.
You are so right that the ‘do what your heart tells you’ is today’s “gospel” – definitely a “gospel of *bad* news” as opposed to The Gospel
I remember when “Follow your heart” seemed to be the mantra of every TV show or movie I watched. No wonder the world is in such a mess when we follow so deceitful and wicked a guide.
“Until you consider that your heart has sociopathic tendencies.” Love that! So true! As well as the sentence comparing our heart’s compass to Jack Sparrow’s. So true that “the heart’s purpose is not first to speak, but to hear; not to lead, but to be led?”
from experience…following my heart has given me much heartache! but since i have given my heart to Him and Him alone, my heart is so much fuller!
What a beautiful post. Well said! And I have nothing else to say.
I remember even on “Thumbelina” the message was “follow your heart!” and everything will be fine. Wrong. You’ve summed it up so well:
“Our heart’s purpose is to be lost glorying in Christ.”
Very well said! The easiest way for me to get off track is to follow my heart. I need to follow Jesus instead.
Are you familiar with the song “The Maker of Noses” by Rich Mullins? I hadn’t thought of it in a very long time, but your excellent post made me think of it. :)