You Can’t “Unfriend” Family

It’s pretty easy to avoid dealing with conflict nowadays.

Do your former college roommate’s views on parenting irritate you? Hide her posts from your Facebook news feed.

Annoyed by the neighbor’s political signs on the front lawn? Sadly, it doesn’t take much effort to avoid interacting with neighbors these days.

Things start to get a little more complicated, however, when conflict exists within the immediate family. Real life doesn’t give you the option to “unfriend” or ignore your spouse, son or daughter, even when there’s something about the family dynamic that can easily bring anger to the surface.

Take, for instance, the irony of making multi-million-dollar decisions at work only to have your 3-year-old ignore you at home. Or the fact that, no matter how much respect you enjoy as a church leader, your spouse or teenager might still question your thought process.

Whatever the trigger is, you find yourself actually having to deal with interpersonal issues.

That’s easier said than done. Managing family conflict can be full of emotional energy which makes the process all the more challenging.

There’s hope, though. The Bible is full of practical wisdom for navigating family conflict. Today we’re airing the conclusion of a two-part broadcast, “Successfully Managing Family Conflict,” that will review some of those helpful biblical principles.

You can listen to the broadcast through your local radio station, online, or via our free app.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage, parenting January 7, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura