Family

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For most of us, we experienced sibling rivalry. We envied our brother or sister and we sometimes felt that our parents liked them more than us. I was an only child for eight years until my younger brother was born. And when he arrived, I grew jealous of the attention he got from my family. As the years passed we got along pretty well. The Bible gives some exaples of sibling rivalry.


There's the story of Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel because God favored Abel's offering but disliked Cain's offering. Jacob envied Esau's blessing so much that he wore his brother's clothes and brought his father the food. When Isaac blessed Jacob instead of Esau, Esau became infuriated with Jacob. Then there's the story of Joseph and his brothers. The Bible says that he was hated by his brothers because he was Jacob's favorite son and they sold him into slavery.


We don't have to let the bitterness of sibling rivalry ruin our lives. When we realize that in Christ we are totally accepted and loved, we don't have to compete for our parents' acceptance. While it's only natural to want to be loved by our parents, we should also realize that they too are human and cannot meet our need for unconditional love. Whether your sister had more boyfriends in high school or if your brother was a better athlete than you, you are valuable too because God made you unique. The Bible says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.


Instead of envying our siblings,we should extend God's love to them and try to establish a good relationship with them. This is the true remedy for sibling rivalry.

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