Spiritual Syndrome X

     This past week, i read a story about 20 year old Brooke Greenberg.  Like most 20 year-old women, Brooke loves to go clothes shopping.  But unlike other 20 year-old women, she does her shopping in the infant department with her mother.  She weighs in around 16 pounds.  At the age of 4 or 5, Brooke just stopped growing, physically and mentally.  Medical professionals aren't exactly sure what is wrong with her, so they just call it Syndrome X.  Here she is shown at around 16 years old, sitting in her swing.
     As I read this story, I began to think of many Christians who are plagued with a Spiritual Syndrome X.  Some Christians have been saved for years, and yet they have never grown in their walk with the Lord.  In Hebrews, the audience was criticized for suffering from Spiritual Syndrome X.  Verse 12 if chapter 5 says, "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat."  He lets them know that spiritually they ought to be to the point where they are the teachers, but they hadn't grown.  They were still babies who had to learn their ABC's.  They suffered from Spiritual Syndrome X.  Just as Brooke didn't grow up physically, they hadn't grown up spiritually.
     Peter closes out his second epistle by telling Christians, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."  He encourages them to grow in their walk with Him.  Earlier in the same letter he told them that spiritual growth was to be a priority in their lives.  2 Peter 1:5, "And beside all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;", and he continues on with more things they are to add or grow into.  But you notice that phrase, "giving all diligence".  It was to be a constant effort to work on their spiritual growth.  Jesus, our ultimate example, grew spiritually as well.  Luke 2:52 says, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."  Jesus grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially.
     How about you?  Have you grown in your walk with the Lord since the day that you accepted HIm as your Savior?  Or do you suffer from Spiritual Syndrome X?  Spiritually, unlike physically, if we are not growing we are shrinking.  I give you the same encouragement that Peter did, grow!

For more information on Brooke Greenberg, visit: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/01/16/girl-who-doesnt-grow-continues-to-baffle-doctors/?test=latestnews#ixzz2IGZSR2s7