“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)
“The eyes see the path before the feet walk it, but only the wise heart accepts the warning.”
African Proverb
A STORY: THE MAN WHO TRUSTED HIS FEELINGS MORE THAN THE SIGNS
There was a man named Eliab, respected in his city for his intelligence and charisma. People trusted him because he spoke well and felt deeply. Eliab believed that sincerity of emotion was proof of truth. “If my heart is at peace,” he often said, “then I must be right.”
One day, Eliab entered a business partnership with a childhood friend. Every visible sign warned him: inconsistencies in speech, restless eyes, shifting explanations, subtle avoidance of accountability. His eyes noticed these things, but his heart softened them.
Nostalgia whispered, “This is someone you love.” Desire argued, “This opportunity feels right.” Pride insisted, “I cannot be wrong.”
Months later, the venture collapsed
Betrayal came not suddenly, but predictably. Eliab sat alone, replaying the moments he had seen clearly but dismissed emotionally. He did not fail because the truth was hidden. He failed because he ignored what was revealed.
That day, Eliab learned a lesson many never learn: vision observes reality, but the heart negotiates with it.
THE DIMENSION OF PERCEPTION AND INTERPRETATION
Truth exists independently of how we feel about it. Reality does not adjust itself to our preferences. The eyes, symbols of observation, receive information without emotional editing. They report what is.
The heart, symbol of desire and attachment, interprets that information through longing, fear, hope, and self-interest.
The eyes see facts.
The heart assigns meaning.
This is why two people can witness the same event and arrive at opposite conclusions. The eyes deliver evidence; the heart delivers bias.
Wisdom begins when observation is disciplined by understanding. When emotions dominate interpretation, truth becomes negotiable.
The heart does not deceive because it is evil; it deceives because it is invested.
HOW THE HEART BENDS TRUTH
The heart represents the inner seat of attachment, fear, ambition, and identity. The mind often becomes an advocate for the heart rather than a judge of truth.
Certain patterns confirm this:
We accept evidence that supports what we already want.
Feelings convince us that comfort equals correctness.
Attachment blinds us to faults in people or systems we cherish.
The eyes may register warning signs, but the heart filters them. It minimizes red flags, rationalizes inconsistencies, and dresses disobedience in respectable language.
This is why intelligence alone does not guarantee wisdom. Many brilliant people fail not because they cannot see, but because they cannot detach.
WHY SCRIPTURE WARNS THE HEART
Scripture does not rebuke the heart because it feels, it warns the heart because it leads.
The heart was designed to love God, not to govern truth. When the heart assumes authority over discernment, obedience is replaced with preference.
Jesus said:
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
Notice the order: purity comes before clarity. When the heart is crowded with selfish desire, vision becomes distorted. Blindness is rarely caused by lack of light; it is caused by resistance to it.
The eyes receive light.
The heart decides whether to accept it.
THE EYES AS WITNESSES OF TRUTH
Throughout Scripture, eyes are linked with awareness, vigilance, and accountability.
God’s eyes “run to and fro throughout the whole earth” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
Jesus often asked, “Have ye eyes, and see not?” (Mark 8:18).
The eyes testify without agenda. They do not love, fear, or hope. They simply observe.
Yet observation without obedience becomes judgment. Seeing truth and ignoring it hardens the heart further. Each time the heart overrules the eyes, deception deepens.
THE HEART AS A NEGOTIATOR, NOT A JUDGE
The heart rarely rejects truth openly. Instead, it delays it.
“Not now.”
“Maybe later.”
“This time is different.”
“God understands.”
Deception is subtle. It often uses sacred language to justify emotional decisions.
The heart baptizes desire and calls it faith. It labels impatience as urgency and fear as wisdom.
This is why Scripture says:
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
To guard the heart is not to silence it, but to subject it.
MATURITY IS LEARNING WHO TO TRUST
Growth does not mean becoming emotionless. It means becoming discerning.
Maturity is knowing:
When to trust your compassion
When to question your excitement
When to submit your feelings to truth
The strongest people are not those who feel nothing, but those who refuse to let feelings rule them.
They listen to their hearts, but they verify with wisdom, counsel, and truth.
They allow the eyes to inform the conscience before the heart decides the course.
THE COST OF IGNORING WHAT YOU SEE
Many regrets are not born from ignorance, but from dismissed awareness.
“I saw the signs.”
“I felt uneasy.”
“I knew something was wrong.”
These confessions reveal that the eyes never lied, but the heart persuaded otherwise.
Every ignored truth returns as a consequence. What the heart hides today, life exposes tomorrow.
ALIGNING EYES AND HEART
Healing begins when the heart learns humility, when it stops competing with truth and starts cooperating with it.
Prayer refines the heart.
Wisdom sharpens the eyes.
Obedience aligns both.
When the heart submits to God, it becomes trustworthy again, not because it stops feeling, but because it stops ruling.
A FINAL WORD OF LIGHT
Do not fear what you see, fear what you excuse.
Do not silence your eyes to protect your feelings.
Truth may wound the heart, but deception destroys the soul.
The eyes were given to reveal.
The heart was given to love.
Wisdom is knowing their roles.
