Inner Child - Which Way Does it Go?

Some of you may be old enough to remember the TV show with Art Linkletter called ‘Kids say the darnedest things’. I am old enough to remember. It was always cute and usually embarrassing to the parents, which, of course, made it funnier. I received the following message from my precious daughter-in-love(law) regarding a comment made by our six year old granddaughter, Rylie. She said, “Rylie told me today that she can't play the games that her friends want to play because she will have an allergic reaction to doing what she doesn't want to do.” Where do they get this stuff? It was funny but it very clearly represents a child’s mentality…..it’s all about me! Limited to children? I think not.

Looking at life through a child’s eyes our perspective is a bit narrower though I can not help but believe it is filled with far more wonderment and awe. They are more open and accepting than most adults, not yet jaded by the evil in this world, disappointments and disillusions. Perhaps that is why Jesus said in Mark 10:14-15 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."

There is distinct difference between being child-like in acceptance and childish in attitude. Child-like is innocent, accepting, inclusive; childish is self-centered, self-serving, and exclusive.

The crux of the matter is we must learn to adopt the child-like acceptance of God’s supremacy and openly believe…TRUST, HAVE FAITH…in spite of our adult ‘worldly’ knowledge and life-tinted vision if we are to receive the kingdom of God. No small task, indeed, but the rewards are great and eternal, the struggle temporary.

To no surprise the Bible addresses this, too, in 1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.

Note it says “…I am done with childish way..” not “…done with my child-likeness…”

The cuteness of Rylie’s rationale wears thin as we get older and it ceases to be cute very quickly. None are immune to lingering childish ways so we must be on constant guard. I, for one, have held on to a lingering rebellion. It is a small scale rebellion to me but it does reflect a heart that is not totally void of issues to clean out. I go IN the Exit doors and OUT the Entrance doors at stores. It just grates on me that someone is telling where I can and cannot go….so I rebel. That’s my sin, the secret is out. I have practiced this more years than I can count and it went virtually unnoticed until the grandkids lived with us. One of them noticed and asked about it. I explained what I was doing and they all thought it amusing. So, pitiful excuse of a grandmother that I am, I laid my rebellious heart open to the kids; they started doing the same thing. The actual action we were taking wasn’t so bad but the fact that I openly practiced rebellion in front of them was! It DID become an issue with my Honey one day when the kids explained to him he was going out the wrong door and why. Oops!

See? You have to be on guard every minute because when you get to Heaven you want to see the Entrance door, NOT the Exit sign!!