Following our heart is terrible advice when we realize how much our desires change. We say, “The heart wants what it wants,” but we never even know what it wants. What we desire shifts on the daily. Instead of following our heart, we must follow God who is immutable.

“Follow your heart.” This is the message of every Disney movie you’ve ever seen. The movies we watch, the tv shows we binge, the music we listen to — all of it proclaims this message: follow your heart and everything will be perfect. Your heart—which is good and reliable—knows what it wants and will take you where you need to go.
The problem is, though, that doesn’t square up in the slightest with the Bible. There are many well-meaning Christians who truly believe the Bible tells us to follow our hearts. However, when they look up the chapter and verse they never find it—because it’s not there. You see, Scripture doesn’t paint a pretty picture about man’s heart. But it’s honest and realistic.
It’s not the popular thing to go against the “follow your heart” message because it is supposed to make us feel good about ourselves. But it ultimately falls flat for many reasons. Let’s explore three of them.
Our heart is wicked. Why should I follow my heart when the Bible calls it wicked (Ps. 41:6)? Of course, this isn’t referring to our physical, beating heart. When the Bible mentions the heart in this way, it’s referring to our innermost affections, our will.
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All Christians, before salvation, we’re sitting under His wrath. The only reason we are now in God’s good pleasure is because of Jesus—not anything we did. As much as we should talk about God’s wrath—for it is absolutely neglected today—we should talk all the more about redemption found in Christ. We simply must not dance around God’s wrath because, without His wrath, we lose redemption.

The wrath of God gets a bad rep. Not because His wrath is somehow deficient or immoral, but because humans don’t like talking about hard things. We hear one sentence about God’s wrath and we’re preaching fear-mongering.
Here’s the issue, though: we need to talk about the wrath of God. It’s too important to ignore. Skirting around it only brings more wrath. We need to face it head on, as eternity hangs in the balance. There are several reasons we must talk about the wrath of God, but let’s just cover three of them.
We need to talk about God’s wrath because it is real. Scripture is abundantly clear on the reality of His wrath (Romans 1:18; John 3:36; Romans 2:5; Nahum 1:2). There’s no getting around it or ignoring it. We must come to grips with what the Bible clearly teaches: God has wrath and, if we do not repent of our sins and trust in Christ, it abides on us (John 3:36).
There will be naysayers and those who try to deny it because they believe in a “God of love.” But a God of all love and no wrath is an idol—it doesn’t exist.
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Take your sin seriously. Kill it before it kills you. Point it out. Leave no room for silly games or foolish antics. Suffocate your sin. Feel it’s brunt—but remember Jesus.

He that has learned to feel his sins…has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity. (J.I. Packer)
We don’t like to talk about our sins. Even as those in Christ—where we know and believe all our sin has been forgiven—we still feel a sense of shame, of regret, of awkwardness when talking about our sin. But talking about sin is the only way forward to sanctification.
Christians needs to recover the art, so to speak, of being honest about sin. Not just sin in general, of course, but personal sin. The more we are honest, open and—in Packer’s words—“feel our sins,” the further we progress in holiness.
Three are three different ways we can do better at this.
Don’t Hide It
Trying to hide your sins—specifically from God—is like attempting to run away from your shadow. It’s not going to happen. Not only is it impossible to hide your sins from God, but it’s also foolish. And it only exacerbates the issue at hand—your sin.
As painful as it may be, confessing your sin is the best thing to do. This is part of “feeling our sins.” In order to truly understand the depth of our sins, we must not hide them, but confess them. Putting them out in the open, in full transparency, helps you become more like Jesus.

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Those who have been forgiven by God of all their sins—past, present, and future—should be the ones most readily to forgive—no matter the severity of the sin. I understand the urge to hold a grudge. We’re all sinners so that is what comes most naturally. But when we remember we’ve been completely forgiven, we should be able to completely forgive others.

“If you truly are sorry,” Brandt Jean said to his brother’s murderer, “I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you.”
Forgiving is incredibly difficult because holding a grudge is far too easy. It’s more natural for us to hold a grudge, to let our anger boil over and become bitter. But God has commanded us to forgive (Matt. 18:21-22).
We learn from this above story how forgiveness is, many times, supernatural. It took the Holy Spirit to let the words, “I forgive you,” leave those young man’s lips. But how? How did this man make it seem so easy to forgive his brother’s murderer?
He learned how to forgive. What are some ways we can learn to forgive?
Forgiven by God
Christians are able to forgive others—even of the most heinous sins—because we’ve been forgiven of our most egregious sins. It’s hard to withhold forgiveness when we’ve been forgiven. It’s difficult to spew our sinful wrath when God has withheld his righteous wrath on us.
We have been forgiven by God through the person and work of Jesus Christ—the gospel.
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In order for us to truly exercise wisdom, we must acknowledge God as God, and give Him the reverence, glory, and honor He rightfully deserves. It can be very easy to go about our everyday lives not acknowledging Him. And the fact that it’s so easy to do is frustrating. This is why it’s imperative to be intentional in our walk with the Lord. Are we acknowledging Him? Are we staying in communion which Him through prayer, reading, and fellowship? If not, wisdom will be hard to come by.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-6‬)
We all search for wisdom. It’s a universal pursuit and, in many cases, we look for it from the wrong source. As Christians, we’ve been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ—but how do we live wisely? What do we do in day-to-day situations as we seek to glorify God?
We should look no further than Proverbs 3:5-6. Proverbs is a treasure trove for wisdom. We have all this knowledge about God, His Word, and the rest—but how do we use this knowledge in our daily walk with Christ? That is wisdom. And Proverbs is full of it.
I think it’s important to go into detail on each statement in the above passage. First, because it’s used so superficially as a “coffee cup verse” that we forget it’s real meaning. Second, though, is because it’s the pathway to living a life to the glory of God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. If we are honest, we will admit to dramatically failing at this. Trusting in God—with all our heart, no less—is not a mere suggestion, but a command. It’s not “If you think of it,” but more like, “You must.” Thankfully, the strength of our trust is not the foundation of our salvation—whether it be justification, sanctification, etc.—Jesus is.
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We are secure in Christ. When we think too highly of ourselves (Rom. 12:3), this is a much-needed reminder that our progression is not due to our abilities, but Christ’s. The times we fall down repeatedly and not sure we will ever advance, we can look to this truth and know he will complete the work he started in us (Phil. 1:6). And, ultimately, we can continue on in sanctification, reminding ourselves of his hold on us, knowing we are secure in him.

We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because he holds tightly to us. (RC Sproul)
Recently my family went to a small boutique in our hometown (where my wife enjoys spending all our money). In order to get there, we had to cross a very busy street. I told Jovi, my oldest daughter, to hold my hand as we walked across the road and into the store.
While holding my hand, she would loosen her grip and act as if she was pulling away, but I tightened my grip all the more to ensure she stayed with me. It didn’t matter how loose her grip was on me since my grip on her was extremely tight. She could try to let go, pull away, or run off—it wasn’t going to happen.
The same is true with us and Jesus. As we hold Jesus’ hands through the trials and temptations of life, it can be easy to become distracted and loosen our grip. But his grip is firm, tight, and never letting up.
If you are in Christ, he is holding onto you and will never let you go. This precious truth should cause three things to happen for Christians.
Christ’s firm grip on you should humble you. It’s hard to be conceited when we know it’s Christ’s hold on us—not our hold on him—that keeps us moving forward.
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When we let God be God, our life is better. It’s when we forget his omnipresence—and his other attributes—that we start attempting to control our own lives, and then everything goes to shambles. But here’s the remarkable thing. With Jesus being omnipresent that doesn’t mean he’s only watching you from a distance or just “keeping an eye on you.” No. He is both transcendent and personal to us. He is imminent. He is near.

“Jesus keeps me safe,” Jovi, my oldest daughter, quietly said as I tucked her in the other night.
“Yes, he will always keep you safe,” I said, while hugging her.
“He is not here,” Jovi responded.
It was in that moment I knew I could send a sense of reassurance into Jovi’s toddler-sized heart. She is only 2.5 years old, so I understand she can only process so much. But I knew she remembers things well.
“Oh, sweetie,” I said, “Jesus is here. He is with you, with me. He is everywhere.”
She replied, “Jesus is here.”
To ensure she knew my point even more, I replied, “I know you can’t see Jesus, but I promise He is here. He is always with you.”
The next day my wife told me as she was putting her down for a nap, Jovi randomly said, “Jesus is here.”
Let the heart melting begin.
I knew I didn’t need to explain the mysterious intricacies of the omnipresence of Jesus—how can he be everywhere at once? But I knew the fact that he is with her would calm her for the night and, better yet, she’d remember it. And she did.
Christian, I tell this story to give you—to give me, to give all of us—a reminder. Jesus is here with us. He is not distant, far off, or lost. He is here and cares for us.
Jesus, as the second Person of the Trinity, is not confined to time and space. He is transcendent. He is truly everywhere at once. He is just as much in the future as he is in the present.
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Christians are ready to die, for we know what awaits us on the other side. We know death is the doorway that leads to true, eternal life. Death is not the end, but only the beginning.

Readiness to die is the first step in learning to live.(J.I. Packer)
Are you ready to die? Perhaps this morbid question haunts you. Maybe it makes you anxious. Either way, it’s one of the most important questions you’ll ever answer; for we cannot truly live until we answer that question. Furthermore, we cannot authentically live until our answer is Yes.
Our culture is terribly afraid of death. We have seen this fear escalated exponentially due to Covid. We do everything within our power to not face death. As a result, what many end up doing is either avoiding the question or answering honestly with a No.
Society, for the most part, avoids the death question.
Millions of people walk through life with apathy regarding the prospect of death. They simply don’t care enough to ponder the question. They are concerned about the here and now—not eternity. It’s foolishness, and they have better things to do with their time. They push it away as much as they can.
What saddens me is the myriad of people who avoid the question because they don’t want to talk about the things in life that matter most. This is partly why it’s taboo to talk religion with people—to many, it’s awkward and uncomfortable. They either squirm or get offended when any disagreement takes place.
More than anything, however, it shows people don’t want to face the reality of death, so they ignore it. They know it‘s coming—as it comes for everybody—but to ponder if they’re ready, that means facing the big things in life head on. And, well, that’s just too serious.
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Nothing can stop us when our eyes are focused on glory. Fear is vanished, anxiety disappears, and worry exits the door. We become so enraptured with what we will experience in the New Earth that the cares, fears, and temptations of this present Earth quickly fade into the abyss. 

There is something sanctifying about fixating our eyes on Heaven and the glories to be experienced there. It’s no wonder the Apostle Paul exhorted us to do so in Colossians 3:2, where he wrote, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (‭ESV‬‬).
Setting our minds and hearts on Heaven is not optional for the Christian. Amid the allurements of this world, indwelling sin, and Satan’s influence, it’s all the more imperative that we take heed of Colossians 3:2 by fixing our gaze on glory.
When we consistently obey this exhortation, several things take place, but let’s draw our attention to two.
Sin Becomes Less Appealing
I tweeted recently, “Today, think on the glories that await us in Heaven. I find that the more I think on Heaven, the less appealing sin becomes.” Indeed, it does. The more I stare at the glories of Heaven, the easier it is to ignore the deceptive enticements of sin.
It is when we daydream about the world and get caught up in worldly pursuits that sin is more prevalent in our lives. We give sin—whether intentional or not—a firm grip on our hearts when we take our eyes off the glories of Heaven. We lose the eternal perspective and replace it with the anxieties of this world.

Tracing our lineage back to Adam gives the racist a proverbial punch in the face because, in a very real sense, we all have the same ancestors. Though we may look different, speak different, and act different, in the end we are no different. We are humans made in the image of God, and that is more than enough.

The doctrine of the imago Dei—the image of God—is foundational to the Christian faith. We believe all people—man, woman, the unborn—have inherent value, worth, and dignity because they’re created by God (Genesis 1:27). Humanity is sacred because of the imago Dei. We have more value and worth than the cockroach because it wasn’t created after God’s likeness—we were (Genesis 1:26).
The imago Dei is one of many doctrines of our faith that is under attack. And one of the more prevalent ways it is under attack is through racism. Racism is the torch that many people use to light the imago Dei on fire.
“To the extent that racism is rooted in the twisted belief that one segment of the population is superior to another,” Don Morgan wrote, “it’s not hard to see how race-based discrimination is a direct assault on the sanctity and dignity of human life.”
Whether you want to use the word race or ethnicity, Morgan is correct. Race- or ethnicity-based discrimination is a direct assault on the sanctity of human life.
What is racism, anyway? The Oxford Dictionary defines racism as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.” To be racist is to be prejudiced against another person simply because of different skin color. To be racist, in the end, is to blatantly ignore the imago Dei.
With that said, what are some ways in which racism is an attack on the image of God? And, more importantly, how should Christians respond?
Less than Human
We saw it back during the time of slavery, and, to an extent, we see it today. Those who are racist treat others as less than human. They treat them as though they weren’t created by God. This attack on the image of God is prevalent throughout our society in many ways:
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