Best-Dressed

Everyone wants to look their best on their wedding day. It is not the day for the groom to wear his comfortable T-shirt with holes in it. Nor will a bride stop by Taco Bell on the way to the ceremony and wolf down a burrito in her beautiful, immaculate wedding gown.

In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul wrote about a wedding ceremony in which the church will be presented to Christ as His bride, who is "without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish . . ." (Ephesians 5: 27). We want to be wearing our Sunday best, if you will, when we are presented to Christ.

Revelation 19:8 describes the church as His bride, saying, " ‘She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.’ For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people."

When we become Christians, we are forgiven of all our sins, and the righteousness of Christ is placed into our spiritual bank account, so to speak. This is called justification. We are made righteous positionally.

Revelation 19:8, however, is talking about practical righteousness, or the righteousness that comes as a result of positional righteousness. We are not saved by works; we are saved by grace: "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God" (Ephesians 2:8). However, once you are saved, there should be works in your life. Works don’t save a person, but they are good evidence that a person is saved.

It comes down to this: You can have works without faith, but you cannot have real faith without works. Is there spiritual fruit in your life? Is there any evidence that you are a follower of Jesus?