The first responsibility of men, or anyone else, is their personal relationship and fellowship with God and the Lord Jesus. If that relationship is not right or fellowship is not maintained, then other relationships with wives, children or with all men will not be carried out according to God’s will. John’s last exhortation in his first epistle is, “Children, keep yourselves from idols.” An idol in our heart separates us from God and keeps us from living according to God’s will. The Proverbs has many wise sayings, but it begins with the all-important first statement, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Giving God His right place in our heart and life comes first, and all else flows from it. Our Lord Jesus, in fulfilling his responsibilities as a man, said, “I do always those things [which] please [the Father].” Doing the Father’s will was everything to Him, and one result was that He fulfilled every responsibility in His relationships with others in a perfect way. Consider one of the last acts of His life. Even hanging on the cross, He continued to care for His mother and her need; He put her care into the hands of the Apostle John, by saying to John, “Behold thy mother!” May we sit at His feet, learn from Him, and seek to be like the Apostle Paul who exhorted us, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1 JND).