Joel M Bradshaw

1Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”3But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”–Judges 14

Samson did three things here:

1. FOLLOWED HIS HEART. The heart is the worst thing to follow. Your own heart deceives you, lies to you, and actively leads you astray (Jeremiah 17:9). Paying attention to your heart is wise. Following its direction is not. He is ruled by his senses. What he saw and desired.
2. REJECTED WISE COUNSEL. Samson had authorities in his life that he should have respected. His parents gave him wise counsel and Samson rejected it. He even demanded his parents be complicit in his own selfishness.
3. BECAME HIS OWN STANDARD FOR TRUTH. Samson determined what was right and wrong. Truth became relative to his perception of it.

I can look at times in my life when I did each one of these. Living this way is hypocritical and doesn’t prioritize God. You can’t follow yourself in the same manner that you follow Jesus.

How about you? Do you follow your heart? Do you reject wise counsel? Are you your own standard for truth? If so, you are more like Samson than you think. And that is not a good thing.–JMB