Pastor’s Place: The direction of your heart

By Jason Hillier, Campus Pastor, Valley Creek Church Flower Mound

Follow your heart. Have you ever heard that said before? Nice sentiment. Makes for a great movie line. But, it is completely incorrect.

You don’t follow your heart. It follows you.

More specifically, your heart follows where you direct it to go.

While preaching the most influential sermon ever Jesus said “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21

Jesus explains that we direct our heart where we want it to go.

How? By placing our treasures (our time, our energies, our resources) where we want our heart to go. Think of your heart as the very deepest part, containing the deepest longings, of you.

Do you want your heart to attach to politics? Spend all your time reading, blogging, and arguing about politics.

Do you want your heart to attach to your career? Spend all your energy focused on climbing corporate ladders, competing for accolades.

Do you want your heart (or your child’s heart) to attach to sports? Spend every weekend at the ballfields. You’ll quickly feel the desires of your heart angling toward sports.

Jesus clearly tells us you don’t follow your heart. You direct it. You direct it through actions and decisions.

So, how’s your heart? Do you like where it’s headed? Do you like how your heart feels? If not, it’s time to course correct. How? Look at your treasures. Where are they being spent? Wherever you place them, your heart will follow.

Want to love your family more? Devote energy towards serving your family.

Want to desire your spouse more? Speak words of life and act with intentionality towards them.

Want to grow in your relationship with God? Spend time in a life-giving church with the people of God.

You see this spiritual truth overlays our lives whether we realize it or not. It was displayed most clearly when Jesus, the very treasure of heaven, came down in human form and made a way for us to experience the Father’s heart of love. Where God’s treasure went, his heart followed.

And the same is true for us.

The Pastor’s Place features columns written by a different area church leader each month. Call 940-728-8284 for more information.