In a world were bad company corrupts good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33), protecting your relationships with your parents and siblings is very important. This can be tricky in a culture that is against family relationships. I think that most of us probably know what I’m talking about. In this article, we’re going to discuss a few tips on nurturing and protecting our family relationships.

Nurturing your relationship with your siblings and parents

If you have siblings, growing up loving each other and protecting each other is a very important key in having healthy relationships. Try to be the most amazing, fantastic sibling that you could possibly be! Know their interests, ask their opinion, pray with them. Protect each other and trust each other! Families (when working together properly) are a very powerful weapon in the grand scheme of things. Don’t argue with each other, and if you’re having a problem work it out! It’s very sad when siblings grow up disliking each other because of something that happened during their childhood. 

The relationship between parents and children is also extremely important. Your parents love you more than you can imagine and want only what’s best for you. But you in turn must learn to respect and honor your parents or parent, even if you may not agree with their decisions. 

“Children, obey your parents in Yahweh, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you, and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:1-3)

My siblings and I have had this verse memorized since I was very, very little. I think that it’s a very good verse that everyone should memorize and apply to their lives. This is something that I work on daily and think about often. Children obeying their parents is ALWAYS important. 

There is also a flip side to this, though. 

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in discipline and admonition of the Master.” (Ephesians 6:4)

Imagine an atmosphere where siblings never fought and lovingly asked each other’s opinions and children were completely respectful to their parents, and parents in turn never spoke sharply and gave loving and calm correction. But of course, nobody is perfect except for Yeshua, and we live in a fallen and sinful world. But just because it’s impossible to never, ever have a fight or argument doesn’t mean that we can’t try as hard as we can to make the peaceful and joyful atmosphere that was described above. 

Protecting your relationship with your family

The first thing to remember with protection is that your relationship with your family comes first, no matter what. If there is ANY bad influence in your life, depending on the situation, you should immediately seek the Father and possibly distance yourself from that influence. If you receive word from the Father that your should halt all relationship with this person, listen and obey! Even if you may not see it, God has a plan and knows more than you do. Remember that the protection of your heart and the rest of your family is more important. 

The second thing to remember is that you don’t need a million friends to be happy! Some “friends” as I mentioned above are not good influences and can negatively impact your relationship with your family. In my experience, if you have a ton of friends with major differing opinions, it can sometimes alter your opinions and lead to fights with your parents and/or siblings. I have two very close friends outside my family who I consider to be my sisters and two or three other good friends who believe most of the same things that I believe. I understand, though, that not everyone can find friends who believe mostly the same things as them. That is something that you personally will have to pray about. It’s also quite exhausting trying to please everyone all the time and trying to build strong, unbreakable relationships with 100 people at once. Personally, I prefer to have a few strong relationships than many shallow ones. 

The third thing is that if you are spending more time  with your friends than with your family there is a major problem. Maybe you’re relationship is feeling tense and strained and that’s why, or maybe you just spend more time with your friends because you can. Being homeschooled, pretty much the only time I see my friends outside my family is when my entire family is there with me. Sometimes I’m over there alone, but rarely. My parents also don’t leave me or my siblings alone with people with questionable ideas or opinions that could negatively affect us. (We stopped spending the night at other peoples homes without our parents several years ago.) I do know that every one’s situation is different, though, and maybe you wholeheartedly agree with this but maybe your parents don’t. It is still your job to submit to them and pray about it. 

Remember that your relationship with your family comes before other people’s feelings or ideas. If you’re an only child, build your relationship with your parents and a few close friends who are like minded. If you just aren’t very good friends with your siblings, start now by trying to rebuild what has been broken down. Be friends with your parents and siblings! Don’t be ashamed of them or embarrassed by them. That only leads to contention between you and them. Try to make your home that peaceful, joyful place where every one helps and loves each other and there is rarely an unkind word spoken. There is nobody I would rather spend my time with than my siblings and my parents.  

The wicked die and disappear, but the family of the godly stands firm. (Proverbs 12:7)

Emma