1 Samuel 2:22 (NKJV)

“Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.”

Oh! What a terrible way to age! May God never let us age like Eli did. It is one thing to have your life work destroyed after you die, but it is heartbreaking to see them degenerate before your very eyes. Our heart cries, and hope is to see the next generation believe in and pursue our ideals while we are alive. Our deepest prayer is for God to give us children who can run with the passions and purposes God put on our hearts. If our children detest and reject what we lived for, this in itself is death before dying. Dying well is watching new generations arise to chase and extend the things we started. Dying poorly is looking around and seeing your children disdain you and your beliefs, even while you are alive.

Oh! May we never die like Eli. May God give us children who will believe in us and believe in the ways we walked in. May God give us biological and spiritual children who will uphold the standards we fought for, and who will wax stronger than us in the things God committed to us. May God give us children who preserve the commandments of God for their generation. Even if they do not follow our particular strategies, may they not depart from our core beliefs. We know that each generation will evolve its own ways of expression, but may all ways conform to God’s holy pattern. May we live to see a new generation arise to continue to lift high the banners of God. Eli died a miserable old man. Eli lived well but died poorly. Eli did not rest in peace. When our time to depart comes, may we rest in God’s peace as we see capable hands receiving the baton from us.