Noemi Hernandez has five living children. Her oldest, Edward Nino, is now famous as being recognized as the world’s shortest living man. He is 27 inches tall. That is about the height of a piece of carry-on luggage.

“He hasn’t grown since he was 2 years old,” his mother says. He only weighs 22 pounds.

Doctors have examined him and tried to figure out why he did not grow. They seem to be baffled.

I wonder who would be the world’s shortest man spiritually in the Christian faith. Edward Nino Hernandez did grow for two years, but then stopped growing. I suspect a lot of Christians might have stopped growing before they were 2 years old in the faith.

The Bible is very clear that our Christian faith begins when we are “born again.” We start out like spiritual babies. How much do we grow?

If you read the description of things that Edward Nino loves to do, he would appear to be a typical man. He dreams of owning a car, loves to dance, and wants to see the world. He would love to meet some famous movie stars and political figures. But his outward appearance of being 27 inches tall and weighing 22 pounds makes him very atypical.

It is a good thing for us to stop and check to see how tall we are spiritually. It is easy to stop growing. Stunted Christian growth should not be baffling – the root cause would be a lack of Bible study, prayer, and Christian nurture through witnessing and serving.

I am going to look in the mirror and check my spiritual size. I don’t know if Edward Nino can do anything about his size at his age, but we can always do something about our size spiritually. Edward Nino has lived to be 24 years old. I am not really sure that we can live long spiritually if we cease to grow. Stagnant and stunted Christian growth must be an embarrassing sight to God.

The following are some scriptures to consider: Ephesians 4: 15; II Peter 3: 18; Psalms 92:12-14; Psalms 1: 3; Colossians 2:19; I Corinthians 3:6, 7.

How tall are you?