Child of the King

Do you have one of those “I can’t believe I did it again” kinds of sins in your life? That pesky, tenacious “thing” you do that you keep promising you’ll never do again? And do you ever feel that surely the Lord must be sick and tired of hearing you say, “I’m sorry, Lord. I did it again”?

I love the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–24) for its beautiful picture of the Father’s acceptance and forgiveness, but something else about that story recently occurred to me: that young man never stopped being his father’s son, an heir to his father's estate, a much-loved child; but he got into trouble when he forgot who he was, whose he was, and where he belonged.
When he turned his back on his father and walked away from him, he was still his father’s son. When he was out squandering his father’s wealth on “loose living,” doing despicable things, he was still his father’s heir. When he was caring for pigs and nearly starving to death, he was a still a member of his father’s family. His father never stopped loving him and waiting for him to come back home.

This made me wonder; do you suppose that sometimes we struggle with sin simply because we forget who we are, whose we are, and where we belong?

Let’s live our lives, not in self-condemnation and guilt, but always keeping before us the truth of what God says about us. Truths like, I am God’s child (John 1:12); I am His workmanship, created for good works (Eph. 2:10); I have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6); I am an heir of God through Christ (Gal. 4:7).

When you remember what worth, what great value you have in God’s eyes, the next time you’re tempted to fall into the same old sin, you might just find yourself saying, “No, that’s just not who I am anymore. I am a child of The King, and that is beneath my royal dignity.”