You've probably heard it before.
“Don't follow your heart.”
Why?
Because Jeremiah 17:9 says:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Case closed.
Heart: suspicious.
Brain: apparently promoted to regional manager.
Except Bishop Joseph L. Garlington Sr. asks a fascinating question in his teaching on Jeremiah 17:
Is that really everything the Bible says about your heart?
And more specifically:
Who was Jeremiah talking about?
It's an important question because Scripture also tells us to guard our hearts, says that from the heart flow the springs of life, speaks about believing with the heart, and promises that God can give His people a new heart.
So which is it?
Should Christians distrust the heart?
Listen to it?
Guard it?
Follow it?
Throw the whole thing out and hope the brain can handle everything?
Let's slow down and read Jeremiah 17 in context.
Watch: Bishop Joseph Garlington on Jeremiah 17, the Heart and the Head
Garlington's teaching begins much broader than one famous verse.
His central idea is that there are dimensions of knowing God that cannot always be reduced to intellectual explanation.
He isn't arguing that Christians should stop thinking.
In fact, he explicitly says intelligence has a purpose. His argument is that our intellect should serve God's purposes rather than assume that whatever it cannot explain must therefore be impossible. Pasted text
That's an important distinction.
Christian faith doesn't require checking your brain at the door.
But maybe the brain doesn't get to be the only person holding the keys.
What Does Jeremiah 17:9 Actually Say?
The King James Version gives us the wording most people recognize:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Other translations render the second phrase differently.
The NIV says “beyond cure.”
The ESV says “desperately sick.”
The CSB says “incurable.”
That matters because the Hebrew expression behind the traditional KJV wording can carry the sense of something grievously or incurably sick—not simply our modern use of the word “wicked.” Bible Gateway
There's another important detail.
When the Bible talks about the heart, it isn't simply describing feelings.
The Hebrew concept of the heart can encompass the inner person—our will, thinking, affections, intentions, and decision-making. Bible Hub
So Jeremiah isn't basically saying:
“Feelings are bad. Logic is good.”
The conversation is considerably bigger than that.
The Context of Jeremiah 17:9 Changes the Conversation
This is where Garlington pushes his listeners to look again.
Jeremiah 17 doesn't begin at verse 9.
Always inconvenient when the Bible does that.
Verse 1 begins:
“The sin of Judah…”
Jeremiah describes Judah's sin as being engraved on the tablet of their heart.
Then the chapter contrasts trusting in human strength with trusting in the Lord.
The person who trusts merely in human strength is pictured like a shrub in dry land.
The person who trusts in the Lord is pictured like a tree planted beside water.
Then comes verse 9:
The heart is deceitful.
Garlington's argument is that we shouldn't rip verse 9 away from everything Jeremiah has just said about Judah's heart. In the sermon, he repeatedly asks whose sin and whose heart are being discussed before reaching the famous verse. Pasted text
When he reaches Jeremiah 17:9, he makes his position explicit: he believes the statement is describing Judah's corrupted heart rather than establishing that every person's heart, in every spiritual condition, must always be described identically. Pasted text
That's the provocative part of his teaching.
But it's also where we should be careful.
Does Jeremiah 17:9 Apply Only to Judah?
Christians don't all answer that question the same way.
And that's worth saying out loud.
Garlington emphasizes the immediate historical context: Judah is in rebellion against God.
That's absolutely part of the chapter.
At the same time, most major English translations render Jeremiah 17:9 more generally as “the heart,” and many Christian commentators understand Judah's condition as an example of a larger biblical truth about humanity's capacity for sin and self-deception. Bible Gateway
So I wouldn't reduce the debate to:
Garlington understands context and everybody else forgot to read verse 1.
It's more nuanced than that.
The more interesting question for Christians may actually be:
What happens to the heart when God changes a person?
Because the Bible doesn't stop at the diagnosis.
The Bible Also Talks About a New Heart
Here's where this conversation gets really good.
Later in Jeremiah, God promises a new covenant in which His law will be written on people's hearts.
Ezekiel 36:26 says:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.”
The New Testament continues that language.
Romans 10 talks about believing with the heart.
Romans 5 speaks of God's love being poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 3 speaks of Christ dwelling in believers' hearts through faith.
And Paul prays for the eyes of the heart to be enlightened.
Garlington leans heavily into this theme during the sermon. He asks why God would replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh if the Christian's conclusion afterward must still be:
“Whatever you do, never trust anything happening in there.” Pasted text
That's a question worth sitting with.
But Does Having a New Heart Mean Your Heart Is Always Right?
No.
And this is where we need both sides of the conversation.
Becoming a Christian doesn't make every instinct divine.
Your first idea isn't automatically prophecy.
Your strongest emotion isn't automatically God's voice.
And “I just really feel like God told me…” should probably not become a spiritual version of the Uno Reverse card that prevents anyone from questioning us.
Christians are still capable of:
Self-deception.
Fear.
Wishful thinking.
Pride.
Old habits.
Misreading situations.
And sometimes simply being spectacularly wrong before breakfast.
That's why Scripture still tells believers to renew their minds, test things, seek wisdom, guard their hearts, remain humble, and live in community.
Garlington himself doesn't teach an unexamined “follow your heart” message.
Near the end of the sermon, he describes asking God to purify his heart, confronting anger and lust in himself, and learning to say yes when God exposes something that needs to change. Pasted text
That's significant.
The goal isn't:
Trust every feeling.
It's:
Become increasingly sensitive to God while allowing Him to continually shape what is happening inside you.
That's very different.
Heart vs. Head Might Be the Wrong Fight
The original version of this article framed the sermon mostly as heart versus head.
After reading the full teaching, I don't think that's quite deep enough.
Garlington isn't arguing:
Heart good. Brain bad.
He's arguing against allowing intellectual comprehension to become a requirement before we'll obey God.
He repeats the idea that our comprehension isn't always a prerequisite for cooperation. Pasted text
That's closer to the real tension.
There are things Christians believe that involve reason.
Study matters.
Theology matters.
Context matters.
Wisdom matters.
And there are also moments when obedience comes before we understand every detail.
Ask Abraham.
Or Moses.
Or Peter stepping out of the boat.
At some point faith contains:
“God, I don't completely understand this yet. But I trust You.”
Not irrationality.
Trust.
“In My Heart Are the Highways”
One of the most memorable parts of Garlington's teaching comes from Psalm 84.
The Psalm speaks about the person whose strength is in God and in whose heart are the highways—or highways to Zion, depending on translation.
Garlington turns that into a picture.
A GPS.
Except instead of a Global Positioning System, he calls it a kind of Global Positioning Spirit.
Yes, it's a preacher illustration.
And yes, he absolutely commits to the bit.
His point is that God created human beings with a capacity to respond to Him that goes deeper than intellectual calculation alone. Pasted text
The heart longs for God.
The heart can carry desire.
Conviction.
Faith.
Hope.
A sense that something is calling us home.
And Scripture repeatedly treats that inner life as important.
What Does “Guard Your Heart” Mean?
Proverbs 4:23 says:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Garlington highlights that verse for a reason.
Notice what it doesn't say:
Ignore your heart.
It says:
Guard it.
That's an active word.
Pay attention to what's entering.
Notice what's growing.
Let God expose bitterness.
Let Scripture correct desires.
Bring wounds into the light.
Allow the Holy Spirit to challenge motives.
Protect what is good.
Remove what is poisoning you.
Garlington describes his own posture as continually bringing what arises in his heart before God and asking whether it belongs there. Pasted text
That's a much healthier picture than either extreme:
Whatever I feel must be God.
or
Nothing inside me can ever be trusted.
Can Christians Trust Their Hearts?
Here's where I land after sitting with the whole teaching.
Don't blindly follow your heart.
But don't spend your Christian life terrified of it either.
If you belong to Jesus, God is transforming you.
Your heart matters.
Your desires matter.
Your convictions matter.
Your inner life matters.
But none of them operate independently from:
Scripture.
Prayer.
Wisdom.
Christian community.
The character of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit.
And humility.
So when something settles deeply in your heart, you don't necessarily need to immediately dismiss it.
You can test it.
Pray about it.
Compare it with Scripture.
Ask trusted people.
Look at the fruit it's producing.
And remain willing to say:
“God, if this is You, lead me. If this is me, correct me.”
That's not weak faith.
That's discernment.
What About the Healing Story in the Sermon?
Garlington tells a striking story about a woman suffering from a serious skin condition.
While praying with her and her husband, Garlington's wife reported a series of mental pictures—balloons, an old washing stick, snowflakes, and an apple.
Each image connected, according to the woman's account, to painful experiences from her past.
They prayed through those memories.
Garlington says the woman called the following day and reported that her hands had healed. Pasted text
It's important to describe this for what it is:
A testimony told by Garlington.
It isn't scientific evidence establishing that unresolved emotional pain caused the skin condition.
And someone dealing with a medical problem shouldn't discontinue appropriate medical care because of this story.
But within Garlington's sermon, the story illustrates his larger spiritual point:
There may be things happening within us that aren't immediately accessible through analysis alone.
Sometimes healing—emotional, relational, or spiritual—begins when something buried finally comes into the light.
“The Heart Knows Reasons That Reason Does Not Know”
Garlington references Blaise Pascal's famous observation about the heart having reasons that reason itself doesn't know.
That's a helpful phrase when it's properly understood.
It isn't permission to abandon reason.
It's recognition that human beings aren't brains riding around in skin suits.
We love.
Grieve.
Hope.
Intuit.
Remember.
Long.
Trust.
Fear.
Worship.
The Bible's understanding of a person is wonderfully whole.
Mind matters.
Heart matters.
Body matters.
Spirit matters.
Perhaps maturity isn't learning to silence one in favor of another.
Perhaps it's learning to bring all of ourselves under the lordship of Jesus.
What Should I Do When I Think God Is Speaking to My Heart?
Maybe this is the most practical question.
Something comes to mind.
A person.
An idea.
A Scripture.
A nudge to call someone.
A sense that you should give.
Go.
Wait.
Apologize.
Pray.
What now?
You don't need to panic.
And you don't need to immediately announce:
“Thus saith the Lord.”
That escalated quickly.
Start smaller.
“God, is this You?”
Does it agree with Scripture?
Does it resemble the character of Jesus?
Would following it produce love, holiness, humility, courage, generosity, reconciliation, or obedience?
Can wise Christians around you confirm what you're sensing?
Are you willing to be wrong?
That last question might be one of the best discernment tests we have.
A humble heart can be corrected.
Jeremiah 17:9 Isn't the End of the Story
This may be the biggest takeaway.
Jeremiah 17:9 is serious.
Human beings really can deceive themselves.
Sin really does distort us.
We absolutely need God to search us more deeply than we're capable of searching ourselves.
In fact, the very next verse says that the Lord searches the heart and examines the inner person. Bible Gateway
But Christianity doesn't leave us standing at Jeremiah 17:9 forever.
There's also:
A new covenant.
A new heart.
A new spirit.
Renewed minds.
God's Word written within us.
Christ dwelling in us.
The Holy Spirit leading us.
That's why the Christian response doesn't have to be:
“My heart is garbage. Ignore it forever.”
Nor:
“My heart says it, therefore God said it.”
There's a better way.
Give God your heart. Guard it. Let Him transform it. And learn to recognize His voice with humility.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jeremiah 17:9 and the Heart
What does Jeremiah 17:9 mean?
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things,” but the verse appears within a larger message about Judah’s rebellion against God. Earlier in the chapter, Jeremiah specifically describes the sin of Judah as being engraved upon the tablet of their heart. Bishop Joseph Garlington therefore argues that verse 9 should be read in that immediate context rather than automatically treated as a description of every human heart in every spiritual condition. Pasted text Pasted text
Christians interpret the scope of Jeremiah 17:9 differently, but the larger biblical message is clear: human beings are capable of self-deception, and we need God to search, correct, and transform our inner lives.
Is the heart really deceitful above all things?
Jeremiah 17:9 describes a heart that is deeply corrupted and difficult to understand. Garlington’s teaching emphasizes that the immediate context is Judah’s heart in rebellion, not necessarily the permanently fixed condition of every believer’s heart. Pasted text
At the same time, that doesn’t mean Christians should assume every desire or feeling is automatically from God. The sermon repeatedly emphasizes guarding the heart, allowing God to expose unhealthy motives, and remaining open to correction. Pasted text
So the answer isn’t simply “never trust your heart” or “always follow your heart.”
A healthier biblical posture is:
Let God search it, shape it, guard it, and teach you how to discern what is happening within it.
Can Christians trust their hearts?
Christians can take their inner convictions seriously without treating every feeling as infallible.
Garlington points to Scriptures that speak positively about the heart: Proverbs 4:23 says to guard it because the springs of life flow from it, and the New Testament speaks about believing with the heart and having the “eyes of the heart” enlightened. Pasted text
But discernment still matters.
A Christian should test what they sense through Scripture, prayer, wisdom, the character of Jesus, and trusted Christian community.
The goal isn’t:
“My heart says it, so God must have said it.”
It’s:
“God, if this is You, help me recognize it. And if it isn’t, correct me.”
What does the Bible mean by a “new heart”?
The Bible uses the language of God changing the human heart rather than simply leaving it permanently untouched.
In the sermon, Garlington points to the biblical image of God replacing a stony heart with a heart of flesh and asks why Christians would receive a transformed heart only to spend the rest of their lives assuming that nothing happening within it could ever be trusted. Pasted text
A “new heart” doesn’t mean a Christian becomes incapable of sin, confusion, bad judgment, or self-deception.
It means God is at work transforming the inner person.
That’s why the Christian life involves both confidence in God’s transforming work and humility about our own ability to get things wrong.
Should Christians follow their heart or their head?
Probably neither one should be running the whole operation by itself.
Garlington’s message isn’t simply “heart good, brain bad.” He says that intelligence matters, but argues that intellectual understanding shouldn’t become a prerequisite for trusting and obeying God. Pasted text
The Christian life involves the whole person:
Your mind studies.
Your heart responds.
Your will chooses.
Your body acts.
Your spirit communes with God.
The better question may not be “heart or head?”
It may be:
“Is all of me being submitted to Jesus?”
How can I know if God is speaking to my heart?
Start with humility.
Garlington teaches that God may communicate through impressions, pictures, desires, convictions, and other things that aren’t always immediately explainable. But he also describes allowing God to confront and correct what is happening inside him—including anger and other motives he initially didn’t recognize. Pasted text
So when you sense something strongly, ask:
Does this agree with Scripture?
Does it reflect the character of Jesus?
What kind of fruit would following it produce?
Can mature believers help me discern it?
Am I willing to admit I may have misunderstood?
You don’t need to distrust every inner impression.
You also don’t need to label every impression “God said.”
Discernment lives somewhere in between—and humility is a very good traveling companion.
A Simple Prayer for Discernment
God,
You know my heart better than I do.
Where I've deceived myself, show me.
Where fear is speaking louder than faith, help me recognize it.
Where my desires aren't aligned with Yours, change them.
Give me wisdom in my mind and sensitivity in my heart.
Help me love Your Word enough to let it correct me.
Give me people who will tell me the truth.
And teach me to recognize Your leading without becoming arrogant about what I think I've heard.
Create in me a clean heart.
Renew my mind.
And make my whole life increasingly responsive to You.
Amen.
Carry Truth Close to Your Heart
Maybe that's part of why Scripture is so important.
Our hearts need truth nearby.
Not just when we're confused.
Not just when life falls apart.
Every day.
A verse on the kitchen counter.
A promise in a pocket.
A Scripture handed to a friend.
A little reminder that interrupts an ordinary Tuesday and points us back toward what is true.
That's the heart behind Pop Open Cards.
They're simple cards that open to reveal Scripture and encouragement—something small enough to carry, but meaningful enough to become exactly the reminder someone needs.
We don't know what God might do with a verse.
We don't have to.
You bring the card. God brings the timing.
One Last Thought
Maybe the question isn't:
Heart or head?
Maybe it's:
Is all of me learning to trust God?
The mind that asks questions.
The heart that longs.
The will that chooses.
The body that acts.
The spirit that responds.
God isn't asking us to become less thoughtful.
And He isn't asking us to become afraid of every movement inside us.
He's forming whole people.
People humble enough to admit:
My heart can deceive me.
And confident enough to believe:
God can transform it.
That's a much better place to live.
0 comments