The Fruit (Traits) of the Exemplary Man
It is God who produces real fruit within the heart (Matthew 7:17-18; Galatians 5:22,23). Only the heart that truly knows and walks with God can even begin to look like the heart of God. A husband will bear good fruit in his character and work only when the thoughts and intentions of his heart seek God, love God, and desire to glorify God. Such a man will leave behind a legacy that will continue to be an example long after he is gone.— exemplary husband
Whatever condition you believe your heart and life fruit to be, you need not and must not remain in this condition. To be an exemplary husband you must first be in a right relationship with God; then, you must recognize that growth is needed and purpose to begin following your perfect example. Next you must realize that sin is the only thing that can stand in your way. You should take great hope in this truth because sin can be confessed and turned away from with God’s help. No Christian husband is destined to be a slave of his flesh, helplessly bound by his past or “personality type,” nor helplessly affected by poor examples lived before him. Once one accepts responsibility for his own sin, he can change through God’s provisions (Romans 12:2).
Becoming the exemplary husband will be a growing process. In the end we want to look like Christ. Each husband must do his own honest survey of his heart’s condition before he can begin to build an exemplary life. Next, he must acknowledge God’s perfect standard and determine his commitment to pursue it. You must count the cost of following Christ. It will most certainly cost you your own will and always getting your own way, because we cannot have both God’s way and our way.
You cannot serve two masters: you must choose.
Once we understand that God is love, we need to know that God has set His love on His own people fully. The kind of love He has for us who believe is made clear in Christ’s death for us. Everything that He does and allows in our lives is consistent with that kind of love and commitment, even though we may not understand how. God in His love seeks to do us good all the days of our lives, even through the hard things. Nothing can separate us from the love that God has for us.
No longer must God punish (repay) our sin. Our punishment was fully taken by Christ (Colossians 2:13-14). Now the Father seeks only to do us good. Now when we go astray, He seeks to teach and discipline us in love so that we grow in maturity. Because of Christ’s payment for our sin, we can know that the disciplining afflictions of the redeemed are designed only to do His child good and to glorify Him. God is a loving and faithful parent who allows hardship only when He must help His child turn from the way of darkness and/or be conformed to His likeness.
The exemplary husband will also seek to do nothing of his own initiative (John 8:28-29), but rather place God’s will over and above his own (Luke 22:41-42). But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:3
Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24