Recently my wife and I were listening to some classic Reba McEntire songs. She’s an Okie, like my wife and myself. This line is from a duet she sang with Vince Gill, another great classic country singer. 

“The heart won’t lie…” Hmmm. I wonder, is that always true? Or perhaps, could the heart be deceived? 

It seems Scripture addresses both questions… 

The heart can lie (cf. Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”). 

The heart can be deceived (cf. James 1:16, 22, 26: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters…” “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves…” “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless”). 

“I feel it in my heart…” Hang on, we might need to double-check Scripture. 

I’ve had those discussions with folks: “In my heart, I know God doesn’t care about how the church worships or does its work…” Or, “In my heart, I know God approves of this marriage…” 

Does it matter that Scripture teaches there is a pattern for church work and worship? Does the heart trump God’s teaching on marriage or marriage, divorce, and remarriage? Where does it end? Before long, everyone will “know it in their heart” that baptism isn’t required, or any number of other departures from the simple Bible pattern. 

Remember Paul’s conscience. He persecuted Christians and later recounted how he had lived his life “with an entirely good conscience before God” (Acts 23:1). Paul felt that it was right to persecute Christians. In our day, we might say, “Paul felt it in his heart.” David G. Peterson, commenting on this passage, notes the “Conscience can be wrongly informed and needs to be educated by divine revelation to be a reliable check on our behavior” (Acts of the Apostles, PNTC [Grand Rapids, Mi.:William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009], 613).

We need to guard ourselves from error. I love Reba and Vince Gill. But on this point, they are wrong. The heart can lie and if we let it, it will. The heart can be deceived and if we let it, it will. We must instruct our hearts to conform to the standards of Christ. We must discipline them to be transformed by the written Word of God. Otherwise, they will become hearts led away by “every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness…” (Eph. 4:15).