Recover Your Identity as a Child of GodSample

When You Lose Your Dignity 

In Luke 15:11–26 we see how a man lost his respect and dignity because he did not have integrity. This man wanted something that was his already. As it happens, he was not honest, because behind his request there was something hidden, yet his father restored his integrity. That is how the Father restores our identity as children of God. 

Dignity is the image of God in us. When we lose our dignity, fear comes along. Fear is a result of not having God in us. With Christ, that fear is replaced with the Holy Spirit, the life of God is within us, and we have the identity we possess as His children. 

In this story, the father restored his son’s dignity, not only his money. What did the father do in this parable? He gave the son a new robe. This is similar to what happened after Adam lost his dignity: God clothed him. The purpose of the father in this story is to restore his son’s dignity. That is what the Holy Spirit does when we lose the sense of the image of God in us. God wants to gives us the robes of the image of His Son. 

The love of God is in us and it drives out all fear. Do you believe that the son in the parable went back to his father with confidence? He had lived his entire life with fear and wearing masks. The principal issue with this young man was that he did not have an identity. He had lost the image of God from his life, he disrespected his parents and everyone else, he wasn’t living a life of integrity, and his life was a complete disorder. 

When he returned to his father with an identity crisis, according to Luke, he said, “I’m no longer worthy to be called your son,” yet his father gives him a new robe. The father showed him that he still loved him, and this had an impact on his son’s self-esteem. 

He lived wishing he had more to add value and success to his life. He thought that by spending money and having big parties he would find happiness and people would see him as a successful man. He had an identity problem and never saw himself as a son. He had issues with the core values of dignity, respect, and integrity.