Honoring our children too much

And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says theLord, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. Why then do you scornmy sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ (1 Samuel 2:27-29, ESV)

Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 
(1 Samuel 2:31, ESV)

This is scary. The idea that any one of us parents could honor our children above God and lose His blessing is downright frightening.

To give some context here, Eli's sons had been cavalier in their approach to the priesthood, doing what they wanted when they wanted with no regard for the holiness of God. In fact, they were actually taking advantage of women who came to offer sacrifices. The Scripture says that Eli's sons didn't know God. They had no relationship with Yahweh, and they were living in dangerous blasphemy.

What is a parent to do in this situation? Eli does rebuke them in 1 Samuel 2, and yet apparently he continues to allow them to hold positions of prominence which they had no business of holding. Because Eli cared more about honoring his sons than honoring God, his family later becomes unravelled. 

So what is the application for you and I? Whom do we honor more - our children or God? I hope you love and cherish your children. I know my girls are 3 of God's greatest gifts to me. But do I ever worry more about what they think than what God does? Perhaps. If we ever abdicate our responsibility to disciple our children because we want to be liked by them, we have made a misstep. If we ever succumb to laziness and fail to perform the hard work of leading our children to Jesus, we could be guilty of Eli's sin. And make no mistake - it is hard work to lead children to Jesus. 

I don't know exactly why Eli failed to discipline and disciple his sons. I can only gather from the text that he cared more about them than God. I know that I don't want to make the same mistake. I am praying for you as well - that you would steer clear of Eli's error.