![]() ![]() Families don’t have to agree on everything in order to maintain harmony. Healthy families provide a safe place for every member to express his or her feelings, thoughts, opinions, and desires. James 4:11 says, “Brothers, do not slander one another.” A rule of thumb is that if we would not treat a highly respected friend a certain way, then don’t treat family members that way. ![]() The church is to avoid “discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder” (2 Corinthians 12:20), and so should families. Every child of God is to respond to other Christians as brothers and sisters (Romans 12:10 1 Peter 3:8). God compares His church to a family, so the rules to the church on interpersonal relationships also apply to individual families. When families align their home and practices with Scripture, the occasions of family conflict diminish. There is to be no sexual contact of any kind between immediate family members (Leviticus 18:6–18 1 Timothy 5:2). Grandparents are to delight in grandchildren and share their wisdom with them (Proverbs 17:6). Children are to obey their parents in everything (Ephesians 6:1), and those parents are to bring up their children in the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). Wives are to respect the leadership position of their husbands (Ephesians 5:22–24). Husbands are to love their wives as they love their own bodies (Ephesians 5:25–29). For husbands and wives, the Bible details specific instructions. When we defy those commands, family conflict will erupt. We see evidence of this everywhere: when one family member embraces Christ and another rejects the way of holiness, the result is often family conflict and domestic imbroglios.īecause family relationships have an even greater potential for conflict than other relationships, God gave some clear commands for each family member. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household’” (Matthew 10:34–36 cf. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Jesus, the Prince of Peace Himself, warned us of this type of family conflict: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. In our world of sin, some will reject Christ while others accept Him as Lord, and this happens within families. From Athaliah killing all her children and grandchildren so she could seize the throne (2 Kings 11:1) to Jesus’ own mother and brothers becoming embarrassed by His preaching (Mark 3:21), examples of family conflict illustrate what happens when family members treat their flesh and blood as liabilities instead of blessings. ![]() While other examples may not be that extreme, family conflict is a recurring theme in the Bible. Sibling rivalry existed in the very first family and culminated with Cain killing his brother Abel (Genesis 4:3–8). Family conflict is almost as old as humanity. ![]()
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