Heart-throbs

A young mom watches as her little child stubbornly refuses to obey and is heading toward a hot stove or an electrical socket. This mom thinks that stern discipline with her daughter would produce terrible guilt feelings, and her heart tells her not to inflict pain on her sweet little girl.

A marine sergeant arrives on the beachhead with his platoon after being released from the VA hospital where he recovered from serious injuries on the battlefield. Every beat of his heart is telling him to order the other teams ahead rather than lead the charge himself.

A lonely Christian man is transferred to a facility in a remote area. There are no good churches nearby and the area is sparsely populated. There are several bars in the vicinity, notorious for catering to attractive females. Each day when his shift is over, his heart yearns for companionship as he drives by them.

Those are just three situations that serve to remind me that the human heart can’t always be trusted. Here’s another:

In spite of his top-flight training and vast experience as a starship captain, Jim Kirk has fallen in love with Edith Keeler, after traveling to earth’s past to prevent his ship’s surgeon from altering the future. As we near the end of this famous Star Trek episode, we discover along with Kirk that Edith had originally died in a traffic accident, but Dr. McCoy came back from the future and saved her life, unwittingly changing all of history. “Jim, Edith Keeler must die,” the ever-logical Mr. Spock tells his captain. What will Captain Kirk do? Follow his heart?

You and I needn’t resort to history-altering sci-fi plot devices to learn the sad truth that our hearts are quite fallible and can readily lead us astray. We don’t like to admit it, but “follow your heart” cannot be the controlling factor for virtuous behavior.

Certainly, following the dictates of our heart’s desires makes our actions understandable. For, normally, all things being equal, most of our desires run in the direction of achieving the most pleasurable goal with the smallest degree of pain or effort. Proverbs such as “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and “No pain, no gain,” and “Anything worth doing is worth doing well” too often fall on deaf ears when our hearts are faced with a painless path, an easy fix, a speedy reward.

People who achieve extraordinary things, things renowned for their great value or virtue, are generally those who take a longer look when it comes to their life purpose and their goal-setting. So often my “heart’s desire” is appallingly short-term, aiming my sights a mere five or ten paces down the road ahead. Especially when my energy is low and I am winding down after a hard day, it takes special effort to picture in my mind the possible vistas that may exist over the next hill, let alone beyond those distant blue mountain ranges of my life.

And yet, the wisest among us ought to allow visions of those distant destinations to strongly determine the kind of day-by-day, moment-by-moment choices we make today. My heart condition at the present hour might be hungering after a Big Mac and fries, but beyond those foreboding peaks out there, my heart may deeply regret such a short-sighted menu choice!

My feelings often seem overwhelmingly real--not just real in the sense of existing as feelings: real in the sense of defining reality itself. When a wave of greed or passion or hate or loneliness crashes over me, the world around me is colored by the intensity of that feeling. The world itself is greedy, passionate, hateful, lonely--not just my feelings. And I’m afraid this also applies far too often to my attitude toward God.

The most important thing to keep in mind--and in heart--about the character and promises of God is that they do not change and cannot fail. As the wonderful old hymn puts it, “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”

Romans 8:28 tells me: “And we know that all things work together for good, for them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” This promise gives me a solid answer for all the fleeting feelings that might lead my heart astray into doubt and disobedience. In His holy word the God of creation has taught me what is right and wrong, and although my heart may be shouting against His wisdom in favor of some short-term pleasure or desire, those feelings of the moment cannot be my guide.

Because my good God is ever in control of all the things I encounter along my path, I can trust Him completely, loving Him with all my heart, mind and strength. After all, He sees the path far beyond those mountains. His goal for me is all mapped out; with His guidance, I cannot miss it!