Well intended but bad advice
April 16, 2015
Have you ever had someone tell you to “Follow your heart”? I’m curious how it worked out. It may have worked out just great. On the other hand I know plenty of people that regretted that advice after it was given as they saw the fall-out of someone making a really bad choice. Stan Rodda, our Litton Hall Campus Pastor, has been speaking out against this advice for some time. Today, Relevant Magazine posted an article about the danger of this advice. Check it out…
Why Following Your Heart Is a Really Bad Idea
There’s a difference between following your heart and being led by God.
“You just need to follow your heart!” How many times have we been given this statement as a piece of good advice?
Culture tells us this is the ultimate determiner in making decisions: “What is your heart telling you to do?”
In seeking out help, wisdom and guidance, we’ll speak to loved ones, people we look up to and respect, or even professional counselors, and all the conversations end with the same sort of counsel: “At the end of the day, you just need to do what your heart tells you to.”
Now that advice may be well-meaning by someone who believes it’s true, or perhaps by someone who doesn’t know what else to say, or even worse, it’s lazily given by someone with a dismissive attitude wanting to move on from the conversation. However, if this is how we make life-altering decisions about topics like career path, which school to attend, relationships, when to speak up or when to stay silent, shouldn’t we really consider what that overused statement really means?
