Don't make that decision with your heart

Everyday we have decisions to make. Big ones like buying a house, choosing a spouse, accepting/not accepting that job, etc.  And small ones like what's for dinner, what laundry soap you use, what furniture you buy for your house. 

Like the ripples from a rock thrown in a pond, all of our decisions effect our lives to different degrees. So, what about those BIG ones that have great impact? How do you make those ones? The ones that keep you awake at night.  The ones that leave you confused, standing at a fork in the road, starring at each side with no clue which way to go.  What school to go to, what city to move to, how to be unified with your spouse about how to discipline your children?

I think the most popular advice we've all gotten from well meaning people is: "Do what your heart tells you to do." "Use your intuition."

One problem with those statements: Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and is beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Um, huge game changer right there.

You want me to "follow my heart" when God says that our hearts are deceitful above all things and beyond cure? Big problem. 


We've had some pretty big decisions before us recently that got me thinking about this topic.   So, I thought I'd share the process we use for making those bigger decisions.  Because sometimes our hearts need a little more time to come around to what God truly has for us. And sometimes we are afraid. Other times god asks us to do something we don't want to do. But there's a way to sift through all of this to make a decision in conjunction with the heart of God. 

It doesn't involve just "following our heart" because as we already know, our hearts are deceitful.  They lean way heavy on the emotional side of ourselves. Feelings change like the wind. We may wake up FEELING super good about something one day and the next we may not FEEL so into it anymore.  The Lord knows this about us. He created us after all!  But, he doesn't want us to live a feeling-led life. It is a roller coaster! He wants us to have a life built on the Rock, that is not easily swept away by the storms and feelings of life (Matthew 7:24-25).  And I promise you, if you let your emotions be your guide, you'll be like a wave tossed around in the water with no shore in site. 

Secondly, we cannot make a decision with just our brain, either.  It leans too heavy on the logical side of things.  This is a hard one because faith-filled decisions go against any logic we have to hold on to, usually.  It is smart to crunch those numbers to see if _____ will work.  It is wise to think ahead to plan and be prepared.  BUT, if you've been following Jesus for any amount of time you know that He asks you to do things that aren't usually logical.  He lives outside of our little perspective and box.  He sees the bigger picture.  He's got a 30,000 ft view, opposed to our 10 ft view.  What seems logical and right to us is totally different from the spot he is perched.  And I'd say that one of his main goals in our lives is to see our faith GROW.  9 times out of 10, the logical choice is not the faith-filled choice.  We have to remember to add Jesus' miracles and provision into our numbered equations. Then our answer might come out more similar to his.

So, without our heart and head we are left with our Spirit.  God gave us the ability to hear him and listen to His Holy Spirit.  And when we sit down to truly seek Him, we can quiet our logical brain.  And shush our emotional heart.  And really tune in to what the Holy Spirit has to say about decisions before us.  Only when we make decisions by the Holy Spirit's guidance will we see our faith grow and our life not be a roller coaster ride.  Only then will we see our decisions lead us down a path in step with God's heart for us. 

I want to lead a life with Zach that we can look back on and be inspired by. That our kids can look back on and see an example of what a life on an adventure with God looks like. Fearless. Surrendered. Faith-filled. I want to be wise, but not SAFE. Sensitve to things God says to us that sound CRAZY to this world. Because we were meant for so much more than we know.