Failure to thrive (FTT) is a medical term used to describe inadequate growth or the inability to maintain growth, usually diagnosed in newborns or during early childhood development. It is a sign of undernutrition, caused by the inability to properly absorb and utilize calorie intake. Several weeks ago, I ran across an article on (FTT), it was just something that popped up in one of my searches. My curiosity caused me to read the article, the more I thought about the article, the more I began to see a parallel between this sad condition usually in infants, and the comparison to many modern-day Christians.
I also have had the privilege of recently starting a mentoring type of friendship with one of my coworkers and his wife. They are a perfect example of a lot of Christians in a mainstream church, who have checked all the right boxes. Loved God, Salvation, regular church attendance, a decent understanding of the Bible, and a grounded theology, yet had little discipleship, challenge, or a surrounding that produced a spiritual hunger. They had fallen into the status quo of expectation and growth.
They were born again with the full expectancy and capability of a bountiful life, only to find themselves suffering from spiritual (FTT), sadly unaware of their condition. There could be many reasons for this, but the reality is that their current state simply was delaying their maturation process. I would not venture to put a percentage of how many Christians today (especially in America) that fall into this very state of spiritual health: but I can safely guess it to be well upwards of more than 50%. We pray for revival, but still would rather suck from the bottle. That is the background or the basis of where this teaching originated.
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