1 Samuel 2: 29 Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me…?’
God asked, “Why do you honor your sons more than you honor Me?”
I love my children, and you should love yours, too. But, if you or I uphold them in wrong, excuse them in their sin, or sin ourselves to fulfill their will; then we have crossed the line from loving your children. Now, we are worshipping our children.
And that’s a bad move because God is a jealous God.
Eli was high priest and judge of Israel. He represented the highest and holiest of religious and administrative authority among the people of God. Eli was always at church. He loved the Lord and served the people. He even took in a kid named Samuel, mentored him, and raised him as his own. Eli was respected and beloved in his community.
But, Eli had sons, and Eli worshipped his sons.
He’d raised the boys in church and exposed them to his good example, but when his sons acted a fool in the sanctuary, Eli did nothing.
When his sons seduced the girls who came to house of the Lord, Eli did nothing.
Eli knew. He saw what they were doing. He begged them to stop. But, he never actually put them in check. He didn’t make them sit down in church. He made it clear that it was no one else’s place to reprimand his children. He defended them in public. He continued to give them honors, and authority, and gifts---- as much as they wanted whenever they wanted it.
The behavior of Eli’s sons brought shame to the house of God. They rebelled against the commandments of God. Yet, Eli continually took his kids’ side although their side wasn’t God’s side.
In other words, Eli worshipped his sons more than he worshipped God.
And that just won’t do.
You can’t have 2 masters. The 2 masters will get inevitably come into conflict over you.
If you worship the Lord and then bow down to your children, your children/ idols will demand that you abandon God for them (I ain’t goin’ to church! Man, don’t nobody care about all that Bible junk! Stop talking that Jesus stuff all the time.)
When that happens God will smack your children and you to remind everybody that I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, (Isaiah 42:8)
1 Samuel 2: 17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
1 Samuel 2: 30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
Because the saved, sanctified, filled-with-the-Holy Ghost parent would not check his bad, all-on-the-youth-trip–acting-a-fool children, God checked them all---- hard.
God cursed Eli’s family, because Eli’s family had rejected the worship of God and taken up the worship of children.
Read 1 Samuel 2: 31-32. Read it carefully and see if the curses on Eli don’t sound familiar to our society.
1 Samuel 2: 31 Behold, the days are coming that
I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
32 And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place,
despite all the good which God does for Israel. And
there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
33 But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart.
And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
How many homes right now have women and boys/ man-boys, but not a single real, mature man?
How many family walls are filled with pictures of mothers and children , but for 3 or more generations, there’s not a single picture of father and mother together?
there will not be an old man in your house.
How many parents come to church asking for help with their children, but reject it because they don’t know how to receive correction. The parents themselves feel like everybody’s judging them, picking on them, talking about them?
you will see an enemy in My dwelling place
Think about all the good, decent, hard working parents who have been blessed and highly favored by God but who can’t teach Sunday School because Sunday morning is visitation time at the jail and they need to go check on their “baby.”
Think about how many times a parent has wept over the unrepentant sinfulness of his/her child, saying, “But we gave them everything.”
despite all the good which God does
And even when baby-boy and baby-girl are home, they won’t work, won’t help, won’t listen. They won’t do any better for themselves, and they won’t let mama do any better for herself. Think about the parents whose hearts are broken anew everyday as their eyes watch their children continually self-destruct.
any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart.
You can be in almost any setting where parents are gathered and hear someone lament the loss of our youth, how they’re dying so young.
all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
Eli’s sons were killed. They died violent deaths. Eli himself died miserable and broken-hearted. His boys literally worried him to death.
Love your children, and love God.
But worship God alone.
When your baby’s behavior conflicts with the Word of God, adjust the child not your interpretation of the Word.
When the desire to fill your child’s childhood with the best and the newest demands that your behavior violate the Word of God, choose to maintain your integrity and right-standing with God, and let them go without the best and the newest that time.
Love your children so much that you will not worship them. It's for their own good.
----- Anderson T. Graves II
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church
Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116
God asked, “Why do you honor your sons more than you honor Me?”
I love my children, and you should love yours, too. But, if you or I uphold them in wrong, excuse them in their sin, or sin ourselves to fulfill their will; then we have crossed the line from loving your children. Now, we are worshipping our children.
And that’s a bad move because God is a jealous God.
Eli was high priest and judge of Israel. He represented the highest and holiest of religious and administrative authority among the people of God. Eli was always at church. He loved the Lord and served the people. He even took in a kid named Samuel, mentored him, and raised him as his own. Eli was respected and beloved in his community.
But, Eli had sons, and Eli worshipped his sons.
He’d raised the boys in church and exposed them to his good example, but when his sons acted a fool in the sanctuary, Eli did nothing.
When his sons seduced the girls who came to house of the Lord, Eli did nothing.
Eli knew. He saw what they were doing. He begged them to stop. But, he never actually put them in check. He didn’t make them sit down in church. He made it clear that it was no one else’s place to reprimand his children. He defended them in public. He continued to give them honors, and authority, and gifts---- as much as they wanted whenever they wanted it.
The behavior of Eli’s sons brought shame to the house of God. They rebelled against the commandments of God. Yet, Eli continually took his kids’ side although their side wasn’t God’s side.
In other words, Eli worshipped his sons more than he worshipped God.
And that just won’t do.
You can’t have 2 masters. The 2 masters will get inevitably come into conflict over you.
If you worship the Lord and then bow down to your children, your children/ idols will demand that you abandon God for them (I ain’t goin’ to church! Man, don’t nobody care about all that Bible junk! Stop talking that Jesus stuff all the time.)
When that happens God will smack your children and you to remind everybody that I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, (Isaiah 42:8)
1 Samuel 2: 17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
1 Samuel 2: 30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
Because the saved, sanctified, filled-with-the-Holy Ghost parent would not check his bad, all-on-the-youth-trip–acting-a-fool children, God checked them all---- hard.
God cursed Eli’s family, because Eli’s family had rejected the worship of God and taken up the worship of children.
Read 1 Samuel 2: 31-32. Read it carefully and see if the curses on Eli don’t sound familiar to our society.
1 Samuel 2: 31 Behold, the days are coming that
I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
32 And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place,
despite all the good which God does for Israel. And
there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
33 But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart.
And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
How many homes right now have women and boys/ man-boys, but not a single real, mature man?
How many family walls are filled with pictures of mothers and children , but for 3 or more generations, there’s not a single picture of father and mother together?
there will not be an old man in your house.
How many parents come to church asking for help with their children, but reject it because they don’t know how to receive correction. The parents themselves feel like everybody’s judging them, picking on them, talking about them?
you will see an enemy in My dwelling place
Think about all the good, decent, hard working parents who have been blessed and highly favored by God but who can’t teach Sunday School because Sunday morning is visitation time at the jail and they need to go check on their “baby.”
Think about how many times a parent has wept over the unrepentant sinfulness of his/her child, saying, “But we gave them everything.”
despite all the good which God does
And even when baby-boy and baby-girl are home, they won’t work, won’t help, won’t listen. They won’t do any better for themselves, and they won’t let mama do any better for herself. Think about the parents whose hearts are broken anew everyday as their eyes watch their children continually self-destruct.
any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart.
You can be in almost any setting where parents are gathered and hear someone lament the loss of our youth, how they’re dying so young.
all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
Eli’s sons were killed. They died violent deaths. Eli himself died miserable and broken-hearted. His boys literally worried him to death.
Love your children, and love God.
But worship God alone.
When your baby’s behavior conflicts with the Word of God, adjust the child not your interpretation of the Word.
When the desire to fill your child’s childhood with the best and the newest demands that your behavior violate the Word of God, choose to maintain your integrity and right-standing with God, and let them go without the best and the newest that time.
Love your children so much that you will not worship them. It's for their own good.
----- Anderson T. Graves II
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church
Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116
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