Mark 3:5
"And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other."
The heart is the core of every problem. If a person has a heart problem, then their bad heart risks not only the quality of their life, but their life as well. You cannot continually have heart problems without it eventually taking your life. The Word of God shows us three types of heart problems that will hurt the Christian's life.
The first heart problem is a hard heart. The verse above shows that a hard heart causes someone to be unchangeable no matter what evidence has been shown. Jesus was in the presence of a man whose hand was withered. The Pharisees watched whether Jesus would heal this man on the Sabbath so that they would have something for which to accuse Him. It didn't matter that this man needed help, the heart of these Pharisees was so hardened that they were not going to change their course of action.
Christian, you must be careful that you don't become so stubborn with what you want to do that you never change your actions. You must be careful that you don't allow your heart to become so hard that you never listen to truth. A tender heart is willing to change when it sees its actions are wrong, but hard hearts will hurt the work of the LORD.
A fat heart is the second heart problem. Isaiah 6:10 shows us that the fat heart is one that is too sluggish to research truth, so it suffices to continue in its course of action even if it is wrong. You must be careful not to become so spiritually lazy that you don't study God's Word to understand its truths. A fat heart is one that will listen to truth, but will never give out truth. You need to be very careful that your heart doesn't become so fat that it leads to a hardened heart. God intends for everyone to give out what they have learned. If you want to avoid getting a fat heart, then you need to get involved in teaching people God's Word. This will force you to study the Word of God so you will understand its truths.
A deceived heart is the third heart problem. Isaiah 44:20 shows that a deceived heart is one which bases what it believes on man and not on the Word of God. Everything that any person teaches or preaches must be based off the Word of God. Just because a preacher you trust tells you something doesn't make it right. You need to be sure that your beliefs come from the Word of God. Let me ask you, do you know why you believe what you believe? Believing something just because your preacher says it is right is not good enough. That will eventually lead to a deceived heart. A deceived heart will eventually lead to believing error. You need to now why you believe what you believe, and base it solely on the Word of God.
Do you find yourself having heart problems? The key to keeping a right heart is to study the Word of God. Let me encourage you to study God's Word so that whenever you are asked why you do or do not believe something, you can take them to the Scriptures and show them why. God's Word should be your sole basis of actions and beliefs. Study it so you don't acquire heart problems.