Child Worship

Scripture

But you honor your sons instead of Me! You don’t respect the sacrifices and offerings that are brought to Me, and you’ve all gotten fat from eating the best parts.

~I Samuel 2:29, CEV

Quote

Eventually every idol, every substitute for God will be destroyed and you may be forced to watch.

~Ya’akov

Eli the priest had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Hophni means pugilist or hard fist like a boxer and Phinehas means mouth of brass. Both were evil men who had never been disciplined by their father. The boys were profane, they had no regard for people and no respect for the sacred things. When people brought their sacrifices, they took the choice pieces of meat before the sacrifice could be made and they used force if necessary. People feared them but no one respected them. Eli heard what his sons were doing to the people of Israel and he confronted them… “Why are you doing these awful things?” he asked them. “I’ve been hearing nothing but complaints about you from all of the Lord’s people.” He explained to them that their sin was against God and not just man but it did no good. Eli had waited until it was too late to correct his son’s behavior. Eli lost both sons on the same day but what disturbed him most was the lost of the Ark of the Covenant. When Eli heard that they Ark had been captured by the Philistines, he fell backward from the wall he was sitting on and broke his neck. Both sons and father die on the same day. Ironically, Samuel raises two sons and the same things happens again. Samuel’s sons were corrupt and the Israelites rejected as leaders.

It is easy to set your affections on your children but we must avoid the temptation of making them the objects of our worship. I have said it a hundred times, children are children and they all need discipline and correction, some more than others but all of them need structure and discipline. I have encountered naive parents who put their children on a pedestal and I have warned them: “You are never doing the child a service by giving in to their will, wishes and demands.” I had a mother of three teenage daughter tell me some thirty years ago, “My girls never argue.” I said, “Listen, all teenage girls argue. Do you mean to tell me that you have three girls and one bathroom and they never argue over who is next?” She said, “Never.” I was nice, I didn’t call her a liar but neither did I believe a word she said. I’ve had parents tell me, “My child is telling the truth, they do not lie.” I like what the first grade girl said when asks what a lie was; she said, “It is an abomination to God and a very present help in time of trouble.” If a kid thinks they are going to get beat or in trouble, they will lie. I’ve done and so have you–they aren’t any different. You are not doing your kids a service when you put such unrealistic expectations on them. Never teach your children that they are better than other children: it is a sure recipe for raising a social misfit. We all fail as parents which is why older parent know more than young ones: we have learned from failure. I love my children and grand children but they are all flawed and none of them are deserving of worship. I love them too much to do them the disservice of putting them before God. I promise you: no idol has a future. God will shatter them all.

Hey, it got warm yesterday. I had to run the A/C. Had computer problems and spent the better part of the day trying to get my computer back on track. Computers are like hay balers, they are great when they are working and a headache when they are not. I like some of the new things about Windows 10 but I hate Bing. I know I shouldn’t like it but google is my favorite and the automatic updates keep changing my browser to Bing. I hate Bing: I am antibing.

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