Day 222.
This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. (Jeremiah 13:10 ESV)
I talk a lot to my kids about the popular adage that our culture embraces which says, “follow your heart.” We’ve talked about it so much that they recognize that theme in movies before I can point it out. That popular idea flows from the waves of philosophies that have crashed upon us through the last century or so, the most recent often referred to as postmodernism. Postmodernism denies God, in the Biblical sense anyway, and thus does not recognize external, objective truth and purpose. You have to decide that for yourself. But it is more than that. There is the recognition, at least, that you need some spiritual guide who knows what that truth and purpose is for you. But since that truth and purpose is unique, the guide is within you, within your own heart. Thus, the popular advice to “follow your heart.”
This wasn’t exactly the philosophy of Jeremiah’s day, though following the heart was the common practice. Here we see plainly that this is a dangerous thing. Following your heart will bring down God’s judgment. In a few chapters Jeremiah explains why when he writes, “the heart is deceitful above all things, who can understand it?”
