Food for thought

[Knatalie9]

Ixor-san

'The road to hell is paved with good intentions'

Our emotions have a purpose but they can run away with us quite easily. I think the trick to guarding one's heart is to try and balance our feelings with reason. In the case of romantic relationships, we have to know what it really means to love someone and how that needs to relate to that relationship. And we have to be able to look at that relationship objectively and be aware when all the elements aren't in place and whether they ever will be. When you let your emotions run away with you, you can't do that. It won't spare you all the heartbreak, that's really just a part of life, but it might cut down on the mistakes you make.

Our hearts can blind us if we aren't mindful of it, what it's doing and what it should be doing.

I agree. I don't think its always wise to "listen to your heart" because emotions can definitely lead you in ways that aren't healthy.  

[Knatalie9]

Priestley

Knatalie9

Priestley

Something I just remembered about what I've been learning lately is that most of our own troubles are the result of our own mistakes and, by the statement that our hearts are deceitful, we lie to ourselves and persuade ourselves to take courses of action that inevitably will cause harm to us.

Something I've also realised is that people tend to shirk the responsibility of having made these decisions and refuse to take responsibility for the outcome, instead choosing to blame God or the devil or whatever outside influence they can.

I think I might have stated something wrong... sweatdrop I didn't mean to blame my heart for my trouble... What I meant to say was that it can be misleading. My trouble and heart ache are my own fault. I more meant that sometimes we "listen to our heart" in the wrong way... life isn't exactly a fairy tell. and sometimes our brain, in all its logical sense, knows best and can tell us when to give something up than our emotions-driven heart.

I was making a generalisation based on patterns that I have observed. I wasn't singling you out in particular. smile They are two seperate statements: the first being about the scripture you quoted, the second being about your thoughts regarding the devil and his actions.

Sometimes we exchange the truth for a lie because we want so desperately for the lie to be true. In your case, it would be the relationship you had, but you're not on your own. I'm sure at least one of us has done something similar in varying degrees. *hugs* heart

YAY! hug! smile

And I agree. Its so easy to believe the lie that you want to be truth... or even stretch the truth to be what you want it to be, which is also a lie. haha  

[Knatalie9]

Fushigi na Butterfly

Wow, when did this get here and how did it get so ... popular so quickly?? eek Anyway, this belongs in the Bible discussion subforum, so when Knatalie sees this I'll move it, and we can finish discussing in there. And then I'll contribute my two cents. ^-^

lol! lets get it moving! biggrin  

[Romjacks]

Just the way I see it:

1. The heart is decietful because it is easily decieved.
2. Your actions and thoughts reflect your heart.
3. Your actions are thereby misled because of your decietful heart.

Therefore, I think that you shouldn't always trust your heart for every little thing, but you should trust in God to show you the way. I honestly don't trust myself to do anything on my own, especially not my heart. For some reason, I get concerned when people say "I know it in my heart," because then I start to think of this verse.

Ah, the stress that comes with being a Christian. It's so fun yet so...well, stressful. Hope I don't get a heart attack.  

[Aachren]

When in doubt...use a concordance!

Heart from Strong's Concordance

This is the actual Hebrew used in the original Jeremiah 17:9...I looked it up via the KJV.  

[Jessy_4 26 2008]

I agree that the heart is deceitful, it gets placed on things you desire, and you start justifying things like "I'd know if I were wrong", "God made the man that made this so it's okay", and so on until you paint yourself into a corner. You can easily be taken on an unwanted trip by your heart. To guard your heart you put your heart on God, and follow Him instead of being led by men, or for man-made goods. Trust God more than your heart, because the heart is more a part of man than a part of God, and God always knows best.  

[LightToTheNations]

I think the heart is decitetful in the way that the enemy can use our emotions to get what we want and feel in our heart to go against what God wants. The way we can guard our hearts is by giving ourselves fully to God, and by giving God our hearts first, we will have a strong root in him and we should be so wrappped up in him that anyone who comes to us will have to get to know God before truly knowing us. I don't mean that in a "oh i can't talk to you unless you know God type of thing" but more as I'm so much into God, he's my life, my everything, you're so wrapped up in him the world makes no sense to you and for people to get a good relationship with you they have to know God first. I hope this makes sense...if not feel free to question...  

[Felldew]

Because a person's heart can make them think many things. A feeling wells up inside and consumes you. And there's no telling if it will be something honorable to God or not. Not until it's too late, at least.  

[Fushigi na Butterfly]

Very true. Most emotions are fleeting and fickle and based solely on the circumstances.