There is a lot of bad advice out there. Some of the worst advice we can ever give to someone is to say, “Follow your heart.” This advice is rampant in self-help circles and the culture at large. To someone waffling between options or contemplating a career change, it sounds like wise counsel. But as is often the case, the wisdom of man is foolishness (1 Corinthians 3:18-20). Jesus never told people to follow their hearts. He told them to follow Him (John 8:12; John 12:26).
When you follow your heart, you will be listening to your carnal desires. God’s Word says the heart is more deceitful than anything else and incurable (Jeremiah 17:9). When we follow our heart, we are deceiving ourselves. We are playing ourselves for the fool. Only by following Jesus will we ever find the peace, rest, and fulfillment that our hearts desire.
Similar to the “follow your heart” advice is the exhortation to “believe in yourself”. This is more nonsense and bad advice. Jesus said, “Believe in Me” (John 14:1; John 3:16-17). Believing in yourself will get you nowhere. Believing in Jesus will get you to Heaven if you will accept Him as the Lord of your life. No amount of belief in yourself will ever save your soul. All this advice appeals to our individualism and takes our eyes off Jesus, placing them on ourselves. This has always been the strategy for Satan. As long as we are looking at ourselves, we won’t be seeking Jesus.
Another popular mantra these days is the need to “discover yourself”. Contrast this with Jesus’s command to “deny yourself” (Mark 8:34). Seeking to discover yourself is an excuse to avoid the responsibility of seeking Jesus. It’s pure selfishness. If you want to discover who you are, ask your Creator. He knows exactly who you are and what He intends for you to do with your life. You will find the answers you are seeking in God alone.
The advice of the world is nothing but the advice of Satan. If you listen to the world, you are patterning your life after the most evil, vile, and corrupt creature that has ever existed. See the lies for what they are. None of this advice brings life. All of it leads only to your death, and not just death in this life, but a spiritual death for all eternity. Is this what you want?
If you follow your heart, it will lead you to ruin. Believing in yourself will pave the way to an eternity in Hell. Trying to discover yourself will only reveal how selfish you are. The advice of the world is not only foolish, it is deadly. Jesus is the only way to salvation (John 14:6). He alone holds the keys to death and life (Revelation 1:17-18). Follow Jesus. Believe in Him. Discover all He has to offer you. This is advice worth following. Don’t listen to the bad advice being shoveled on you by the world. Their advice comes from the devil himself, and we know he is the father of lies (John 8:44). Walk away from the lies and seek the truth and beauty of God’s Kingdom. There, you will find life beyond anything you’ve ever imagined (John 10:10).