Spiritual Dwarf Mentality

We like to claim to have faith that is much more than that, but there are times when faith seems so small that you couldn’t fill that mustard seed. There are times when we develop that “spiritual dwarf mentality”.

What is “Spiritual Dwarf Mentality”? That simply means that you think too small; that your faith is too small; that your commitment to the Lord is just too small; that your trust in God is very small; and that whatever you are facing in life seems so much greater than the God you serve. I’ve seen a lot of people who had Spiritual Dwarf Mentality.

This is not a jab at those people who are born into the world with a physical condition called dwarfism that causes the body to remain small their whole lives.

There’s a program on the TV called “The Little People” that tells the day-to-day life story of a couple that live a life that is challenged by dwarfism. The husband, Bill Klein and his wife, Jen Arnold are both under four feet tall and they are newlyweds.

Yet, as you watch these “Little People”, you find that they don’t have a “Dwarf Mentality”. Though their bodies may be small, their goals, ambitions and dreams are the stuff of Giants. He owns a successful business and she is a successful Pediatrician. They face a life with all of its giant cars, homes and everything else, and they take it all in stride and do whatever they have to do to build a happy life.

A “Spiritual Dwarf Mentality” has nothing to do with the size of your body, but it has everything in the world to do with how you think and the size of your heart, and the size of your faith and commitment to Christ. You can have Dwarf Mentality even if you’re 6 feet tall.

How does a Christian with “Dwarf Mentality” see the world around him?

Every obstacle is a giant standing in the way. Their favorite words in every conversation are “can’t”, won’t, why, no and I hope so. Most of these aren’t words of faith and power but words that tend to keep us thinking in a small way.

I was looking over some material for this message and a came across one of those 12 step programs. Now most of these things don’t amount to much and some of them seem to be designed to keep you in a condition of failure because we can never really be free.

The AA 12 step program and the Narc Anon Program both force you to admit, every time you go to a meeting, that you are an alcoholic or a drug addict. Where’s the delivering power in that? Sure some folks are helped but to stay sober they have to be accountable to someone else and never miss a meeting.

Isn’t it amazing that the world lives by God’s Law more than some of those who consider themselves to be God’s people? I wish that everyone who calls themselves a Christian would also come to the church every time the doors are opened and confess that they are Christians.

If the alcoholics and the drug addicts miss one meeting they are liable to fall off the wagon, and they are proud to come together and confess that through the support they feel in their group meetings they are able to overcome their habit, even if its only for a short time. When is the last time I heard a Christian give God glory and confess that his or her faithfulness to the House of God is what keeps them from falling away from Christ?