'Eli and Samuel' 

1 Samuel 3.1-18

There are three lines in this passage from which I can't get away... 

vs 13 his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them. 

vs 14 `The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.' 

vs 18 Then Eli said, "He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes."

Here are a couple more verses that I believe are key in understanding the outcome of Eli's sons.

vs 1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. 

vs 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 

I believe Samuel's outcome might not have been any different from that of Eli's sons except that at some point Samuel began to understand the word of the LORD.

Undoubtedly Eli's sons had ...ministered before the LORD under Eli just as Samuel was doing here in chapter one. I would also assume it could have been said of them that they, too, ...did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to (them).

How did Samuel began to understand the word of the LORD? We come to know the LORD by a process of understanding that is more than an event.

We most assuredly are concerned about our children and grand-children's salvation (an event, as we generally view it in terms of modern Evangelical Christianity) and we are also eager for them to be active in church. We want them to love worship and the fellowship of the saints. These events and activities do not in any way guarantee that youth, nor adults, will come to any revelation of who God IS. 

Without a revelation of The Holy, our religious activity becomes contemptible. The restraint upon those thus involved comes through teaching. The instruction given in love by those living a life of meaning will be powerful. 

The life of the instructor doesn't gain credibility because it is or has been blameless...the credibility comes from the great transforming power of the love of God who gives us new meaning and love.

This is a process, this is the revelation...this, too, is salvation. It could have come to Eli's sons. It can come to anyone. It will need your commitment to the processes at work in those you love.