Family generations
God is calling us to be part of His family too, not just for the rest of this physical life but for all eternity. And, as 
any good parent, God expects us to get along with our spiritual brothers and sisters.
Given that families serve as workshops for insight into spiritual principles, how can we fulfil God’s desires for us in our families? For starters, we can obey the Fifth Commandment, which tells us to honour our parents (Exodus 20:12). In learning to honour our physical parents, we indirectly learn to honour our spiritual Father. Families are to build and sustain mutual respect and love for others. Such families are safe harbours in a dangerous world of false values, deception and misinformation. The coming Kingdom of God, in the simplest of terms, is a large, happy family that will last forever.
Though most young people have disagreements and fights with their siblings as they grow up, having to learn to get along with brothers and sisters is good experience for later in life. For all the supposed hassle of brothers and sisters, relationships between siblings often turn out to be the most enduring. After all, family is family, and family members remain family. We may disagree with each other at times, but we remain members of the same family. I was the oldest child in my family, with two younger brother and a sister. Although I didn’t always treat them as respectfully as I should have, my life today is richer and more complete because of them. Although three of my siblings are already gone, they were all the friends I could count on. Marcio, the only brother who is still alive is today my closest friends.
Time has a way of altering our perspectives. Now that my own children are grown, I have a deeper appreciation for, and agreement with, my parent’s emphasis on everyone getting along and showing respect for all members of the family and I suffer when they have a disagreement. I guess I’m just following in their footsteps. Through the years my family have been sources of stability, love and encouragement to us. Although my first marriage was terminate and that, totally against my will, my children found themselves in a blended family with a stepfather and new siblings. However, I did the best I could to avoid our family to be doomed to failure. God makes provision for us to learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others and to have the opportunity to do things better. My children at their turn, made their best make every effort to make their new family work. They Honour their parents as God tells them to do, respect their siblings—old and new—and remember their Creator. Following this approach, they can eventually be part of the greatest family of all, the family of God.
I appreciate long-lasting family relationships and wish to spend the rest of my life working for the closeness of mine and my husband’s family, because they reassure me that God offers us the same kind of relationship. God says the ideal family unit is a man with his wife and children committed to an enduring relationship (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-33; 6:1-4). This is the model to strive for.
Having been blessed with the great joys of a traditional family as our Creator intended, I refuse to see the definition of the family, as He created it, corrupted. When I compare my parents experience, together with my own present marriage, to that of the many dysfunctional families and unhappy relationships we see all around us, it’s obvious that God’s way, as shown in the Bible, is by far the best.