Monday, January 18, 2010
Ignoring Evil Influences
(I Samuel 2:22-26)
Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were evil. They had rejected the God of their father. They stole from the offerings that had been brought to the Tabernacle. They engaged in unbridled sexual immorality. No doubt about it: they were bums—bad apples—washouts. And they lived under the same roof as the young man Samuel.
One should never underestimate the power of influence. Bad examples, it sometimes seems, impress more powerfully than good ones. And so we are warned in the New Testament, “Evil communications corrupt good manners” (I Cor. 15:33). In both the pages of Scripture and the anecdotal evidence of succeeding generations, bad men cast their corruptive influences upon the pure, chaste, and noble youth.
It doesn’t, however, have to be that way. Samuel stands as a singular example of youth confronted with corruption and yet victorious. Having described the moral turpitude of Eli’s sons, the Bible states that Samuel—in contradistinction to their perversions—“grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord, and also with men.” Somehow, Samuel “beat the odds” of influence and turned out for the Lord, despite the evil of his surroundings.
In child rearing, the best-case-scenario is for children to grow up in loving, dedicated Christian homes. Where that is not possible, however, we need not despair. God has a way of preserving His choice youth for Himself in spite of their upbringing. Sometimes the greatest trophies of His grace spring from the darkest cesspools of corruption, proving once again that, where sin did abound, grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20).
