The Wedding Dress

Revelation 19:7-9 "Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

This past Sunday night, our administrative pastor, Pastor Josh Adkins, preached a sermon entitled "Dress for the Wedding." In his sermon, he expressed the importance of "dressing" for where your ultimate destination is and not simply for your stops along the way. He used the illustration of someone traveling to a wedding that makes a pit stop at a gas station to fill up or buy a snack. Your outfit would be one that would fit at a wedding - suit or fancy dress. On your pit stop at the gas station, your outfit would clearly be out of place, because you would be overly dressed for the place you were currently in. However, you would be perfectly dressed for your ultimate destination - the wedding. 

This illustration depicts our spiritual lives, ministries, and callings. Although we may be just beginning a new ministry or calling for the Lord, we should "dress"/conduct ourselves for the place we ultimately want to end up. If I'm opening up a bakery, I wouldn't serve mediocre cupcakes to my customers, using the excuse that I'm just opening. You wouldn't be in business for long behaving that way. You would want to put your very best foot forward and provide the best product possible, because your ultimate destination is a successful, fully-functioning bakery. Even beyond this, when God lays a calling on our hearts, we ought to "dress" for the outcome we want in that ministry and not make excuses that we are only beginning and can't give it all we have. 

Another aspect of dressing for the wedding is making sure that not only our ministries that involve other people are where they should be, but we also need to make sure that our own personal relationship with the Lord is where it should be. The Bible equates the church/God's TRUE followers to a bride adorned for her wedding day. A bride will spend countless hours, days, weeks, and even months preparing for her special day. She chooses only the most perfect dress for the occasion - one that will knock her groom right off his feet in love and adoration for her. On the day of her wedding, she will take the utmost care of that dress, making sure that it doesn't get tarnished, stained, or ripped in any way. In like manner, we must keep our lives untarnished, unstained, and whole so that on that awesome day when we join with the Bridegroom, He will be pleased and full of overwhelming love with the way we have prepared ourselves for Him. He deserves our best, because He gave His best for us.

We, God's people, are the bride and His Son Jesus is our bridegroom. Our Bridegroom is preparing a place for those that love Him and follow His commandments as you are reading this blog. To be a part of this wonderful celebration, you must know Jesus as Lord and Savior. We must recognize that we have sinned and are in need of God's grace. We then must make Him Lord of our lives and keep Him at the center of each day. One day, on that awesome wedding day, He will receive us, His bride, to Himself. We will feast in a celebration to end all celebrations! Let's keep our "dress" as pure and untarnished as possible. Let's not lay off our wedding clothes for any reason. Dress for your ultimate destination - not for your current location.