Growing Neotenously
By Kim Miller
Not long ago I stumbled upon the word 'neoteny'. I hadn't a clue what it meant but I found as I researched
its meaning that it is a word with some scientific connotation and a bit of evolutionary ideology, but very simply put, it is the
ability of a mature adult to retain certain childlike qualities. This definition immediately brought to mind a familiar passage of
Scripture: "... I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven." (Matthew 18:3)
Neoteny is not something that comes naturally to most of us. This is evident in Jesus' choice of words. A "change" is in order. We must "become" like little children. The original language suggests a conversion, a reverting back in order
to move forward. And this is essential to life in the kingdom. This is one of the great paradoxes in Scripture. In order to reach
a point where we are able to access the life God desires for us, we must grow spiritually into a place most of us left behind as we
grew physically.
Living >From the Inside Out
I have heard it said that children live from the inside out, while adults live
from the outside in. In other words, children are oblivious to the forces outside of who they are. They simply live from all that
they know within, being who they are, no more, no less. They have yet to learn and feel the pressures of outside expectations, nor
have they mastered the catechism of "all things acceptable". To get a taste of how far we have moved from that kind of living, take
a moment and try to recall your life before the onset of self-consciousness. Can you remember a place where externals - income, fashion,
possessions, etc. - had nothing to do with the way you defined yourself or the people around you? Can you remember a place where you
never felt that you were too much this, or not enough that? Can you get back to the place in your life where there were no imaginative
boundaries and no creative limitations - to that place where you really believed nothing was impossible? It's a difficult trek for
the mind to make. Seems we have accumulated a truckload of reason, logic, and judgment on the journey from youth to "maturity". Butthis is the place - that place of living from the inside out, where we are who we are, no more and no less - where kingdom living
becomes experientially accessible.
Living from the inside out requires us to remember who we are to begin with - who we were before
we came into agreement with outside forces, pressures, expectations and ideas. On the inside there is a uniquely created, fully equipped
child of God desperately seeking expression. This is the one the world and the church are waiting for and so this is the one the enemy
has done his best to keep shut up and shut in.
God is speaking the concepts of neoteny to the body of Christ in new measure. We are
seriously beginning to mature in childlikeness...reconnecting with who we were created to be...finding the "who" we lost somewhere
along the way. We are finding the freedom, and the permission, to live from the inside out. Conformity is giving way to true unity,
where individuality and difference are being recognized and appreciated as extensions of our multi-faceted God. This simple return
to who we really are is launching us and moving us into our destined and rightful positions in the world, as well as in the church.
The kingdom is advancing as we are changing....as we are becoming like little children...as we are learning to live from the inside
out...as we are growing neotenously.
by Kim Miller