Real men are respectable. Men, what in your life demonstrates respectability? Are you a person of dignity due to your character? If true, you want what is noble, morally valuable, and worthwhile. Those are your desire and part of your life so that you demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the flesh.
Easy to Respect
A man that is easy to respect and reverent meets the qualification of a deacon (1 Timothy 3:8). That puts you in an elevated position with the capacity to serve others and their needs effectively. Being a deacon is undoubtedly a position, but it is really about a man's character.
Not only is a real man respectable, he is easy to respect. He takes no delight in inappropriate things like off‐colored humor, vulgarity, anything suspect, or anything out of bounds. He is worthy of honor and respect, particularly by younger men, because of the purity and integrity of his life. But the most crucial element of a husband being easy to respect involves his wife.
A Gift to Your Wife
A word to wives – this call for respect has NO conditions. There is no “if” or “when” for respect. Your respect for him is a choice, like love is a choice. Even if your husband is not respectable, God asks you to respect him.
But please listen, husbands! When you are “easy to respect” and “worthy of respect,” you give a gift to your wife! It helps protect her from the sin of disrespect and rebellion. Of course, her respect is always her issue, not yours. You cannot make it happen. But you can make it easier by being easy to respect.
What an opportunity to bless your wife and everyone around you! Real men are respectable and do not spend time trying to prove their respectability. They are a man who reflects Christ and lets God show others the truth.
Please do not misunderstand to think that people, even your wife, will respect you, even if you are easy to respect. People can and will choose not to respect you for their reasons. Christ was perfect, and most people did not respect Him – few, if any, respected Him when it came to the cross.
That is extremely important because it is not about whether people respect you but whether you are respectable. Are you doing what God asks of you, which would make you easy to respect or respectable based on God’s definition?
Clear Minded (Sober)
Real men are respectable and are clear about what really matters. It is always great to be reminded about what God sees as valuable. God’s lists are non-material items that designate what is valuable to Him. Nothing in the Titus 2 list is material, yet most men and women focus on material things as a measure of value.
Are you a clear-minded man with godly priorities? Most importantly, are you clear about the Fundamental Decision (trust God or trust something other than God), the PROBLEM, and the SOLUTION in relationships, forgiveness, confession, and freedom?
A clear mind implies you are wise and careful when making judgments. You use your God-given talents, gifts, time, money, and energy unsparingly for God, and your motto for life is clear and straightforward: “trust and please God.”
The only way for any man, or person, to be clear-minded is to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11). At the core of clear thinking is thinking about others first, just like Jesus. REAL men are willing to serve others and not require others to serve them.
Addressing Titus as a younger man, Paul tells him to be a “pattern,” an example “of good things.” Could God point at you as a type or example for others, a pattern to follow that demonstrates a REAL man? Or are you a pattern that shows an example of a man of the world?
Young men, please take the time to look for godly men you can imitate. Look for and spend time with men you can pattern your life after. Older men step up and be that pattern that young men need.
Let the luster of your life be a common school of instruction, a pattern of virtue to all. – John Chrysostom
Sound Doctrine
Sound doctrine is strongly associated with faith. If you have a flimsy faith, you will have a flimsy, faulty doctrine. False doctrine leads to current and eternal problems. The wrong doctrine is the difference between a life with God or life in hell and between just being a child or reigning with Christ as a Servant King.
Do not make the mistake of creating doctrine from what you decide is right. Sound Doctrine is solely from what God’s Word says. Always change what you believe as God’s Word becomes clearer to you. Meditate on those things you do not understand and exercise your faith to do what God says even when you do not understand it. Follow the example of Abraham.
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. – Hebrews 11:8
That is the sign of an overcomer – someone who HEARS God’s Word and DOES it without FEAR of loss or death. I have sought to understand God’s Word before doing it for most of my life. That shows a lack of faith in my PERFECT Father God. At best, that is naïve but strikes me more as foolish. Most importantly, it does not exercise and develop my faith.