Thursday, April 10, 2008

 

Unconditional Love Series

 

1 Samuel 2:12 “Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord.” 

 

Unconditional Love is Not Unconditional Acceptance of Your Children’s Behavior

 

Eli was a respected high priest during the Old Testament time of the judges.   He was known for many things but tragically remembered as a man who did not discipline his sons.   His boys had no regard for the Lord. 

 

  Eli was the high priest of Shiloh and he saw all that happened in that place of worship.  Shiloh was a place of worship for the nomadic people in the age of the judges.  There were few cities in those days and most of the people were herdsmen as well as farmers.   They would stake out a place, raise their crops, take care of their herds, and come to Shiloh to worship.   It was a place of religious retreat and offering.   Many came when they had prayer concerns and would go to the tent of meeting and pray and worship the Lord there. 

 

Eli saw that Shiloh was well-run, a place of significant worship and a place of spiritual hospitality.  He directed the people who came, received their offerings, prayed with them and became a spiritual guide for them.  Unfortunately he could not control his sons.   They had become wicked men without respect for God or the practice of the other priests who were there.   The worshippers would bring their sacrifices.  Many times they slaughtered a domestic animal.  It was cut into portion sizes and boiled in a pot.  The meat was meant to simply satisfy people’s hunger and everyone ate simply what they stuck with a skewer as the pot boiled. 

 

Eli’s sons did not want boiled meat but rather they took the meat away from the other priests and roasted it and always took the best cuts for themselves.   They forced the other priests to do it and if they refused, Eli’s sons mistreated them.   This behavior by Eli’s sons was typical of their attitude.  Eli’s sons more menacingly committed abominations to the Lord.  They commonly forced themselves on women who came to worship.  Repeatedly people came to protest about his sons and Eli did nothing.  

 

It is important that we never give up on our children.  If we don’t discipline our children when they are young it becomes increasingly challenging to guide them as they grow in years.   Eli had the responsibility of father but also the responsibility as priest of the compound to see that his sons lived and conducted themselves with regard for God and God’s ways.  

 

Unconditional love, for a parent, is not unconditional acceptance of any behavior from the child.    In that paternal society, Eli had the dual responsibility as a father and as priest and he abdicated his moral responsibility for his sons and at Shiloh.   Loving our children does not mean that we neglect to stand for what is right in the eyes of God.   Love’s neglect was tragic for Eli as well as his sons.   God gives us this story in 1 Samuel to guide us as an example of what will happen if our love does not discipline our children.  

 

Prayer:

Dear God, help me to set a proper example.  Amen.