Calling the Inner Child

Have you ever been in a place where you were picked last? Remember in school when sport teams were being picked in gym? Everyone else was picked first and then you? Maybe it was because you were too short, not athletic, or some other reason. Maybe you weren’t even picked it was by default because you were there? How often did you walk away from those experiences with a sense of inadequacy, failure, and self-depreciation for a thing you could not help? 

How about as an adult?  Do you feel like you are easily overlooked or dismissed? Do you find yourself compensating for the pain by getting noticed through other ways, such as what you do? But then feel even more excluded by the others?

If so, take heart there is hope. Let’s look at the story of Zacchaeus found in the Book of Luke 19.

He was a short man and may have likely experienced some of these situations as a child and an adult. His occupation was tax collector, a profession that was hated and he was considered a sinner.  He was likely overlooked, dismissed, and bullied as a child and then for his occupation as an adult..

He may have overcompensated by a sense of control or power over people with taxes. He may have been trying to reconcile those feelings of inadequacy with a false sense of importance. After all, this was an appointed position from the Roman government. But, tax collectors were considered greedy and imposing unjust fees especially against the poor for their own gain, which resulted in a continuance of negative treatment.

However, Jesus did not see Zacchaeus as greedy, a person who was to be shunned, He saw him as needing to be spiritually healed.  He saw the hurting child inside of him who was just trying to be seen for who he was not what he was.

He saw him when he was picked last, overlooked, shunned, bullied as a kid who was trying to overcome those hurts as an adult, but in an unhealthy manner.

Zacchaeus knew he needed to see Jesus and so he climbed a tree to see over the crowd. Do you know many adults who climb trees, except those who are in the business of tree climbing? I don’t, so I wondered if this was Zacchaeus inner child responding to the Spirit of Jesus.

Mark 10:13–16 we read:

“People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”

Jesus wants to speak to us in the same way. Our inner child who is wounded from past experiences and as a result we are in a cycle of sabotage, trying to compensate for the pain. For Zacchaeus it may have been because of his height, or something else, but we all have something. We all may not climb trees, but we can recognize some child-like behaviors in ourselves in trying to be seen. Instead of unhealthy childlike behaviors, come to Jesus childlike, with a sense of awe and innocence. Let your inner child be called out by Jesus so He can give you the love and comfort for those places of hurt. So He can assure you that you are worthy to be seen and that He does see you.