A number of years ago, there was an article in the Virginia Medical Monthly about a lady who regressed in her mental and emotional development.
Psychiatrists called it “personality regression.”
She grew normally, got married and had 3 children.
Her life was happy until her husband died when the children were in high school.
This is when she started regressing.
Initially, she started dressing like a 20-yr.-old.
She regressed backward at the rate of 1 year for every 3 or 4 months of time that went forward.
At 61, she acted and talked like a 6-yr.-old.
She was sent to a mental institute where she insisted on wearing short dresses, playing with toys, and babbling like a child.
Then she became like a 3-yr.-old; she spilled her food, crawled on the floor, and cried, “mama.”
She later regressed to the age of 1-yr.-old.
She drank milk and curled up like a baby.
Sadly, she died in this condition.
Just like this woman regressed mentally and emotionally, when we regress spiritually, we return to the baby stage of spiritual growth.
We stunt our growth because we are resisting spiritual maturity.
The reason we resist spiritual maturity is that we allow our flesh to overrule the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 says this:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?”
Believers can be immature or babies in Christ because they have been saved for only or short time, but Paul is not referring to that here.
He could not speak to them as Spirit-filled growing believers.
The tragedy is that they should have been mature by now, but they were still in the baby stage of growth because of fleshly living.
There are 3 basic reasons for believers living fleshly lives:
- Sin is allowed to dominate our lives as vs. 3 says.
- Seeking to grow in our own strength or by legalism.
- We are creatures of habit and feel uncomfortable at times with change, as we see in vs. 1-2.
One Sunday a pastor was finishing up a series on marriage.
At the end of the service he was giving out small wooden crosses to each married couple.
He said, “Place this cross in the room in which you fight the most and you will be reminded of God’s commands and you won’t argue as much.”
One woman came up after the service and said, “You’d better give me 5.”
May we not resist growing to spiritual maturity in Christ!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler