Are You Getting Prepared for the Wedding

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26:so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27:that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

2Timothy 2:20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
21: therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

We had an exciting week at the Cambridge Springs Alliance Church. On Saturday afternoon we had a wedding and last night we had a special summer art class and Bible lesson on pottery.

On Saturday Nancy Mealey got married to Jeff (sorry, I forgot the last name). It was a very beautiful wedding. About a week before the wedding, I was talking to Cal, Nancy's father. He was telling me about the schedule on the day of the wedding, that the ladies were going to begin getting prepared at 8 A.M. at the church for the wedding which started at 3P.M. Being typical of a man, I was thinking, wow that is a long time for preparation, but I arrived at 2:30 and the room where they were getting ready in was still closed, so they ended up using every minute of the time.

This reminded me of the first scripture passage in Ephesians. My time on earth is my preparation time as I belong to the body of Christ and we are His bride, and He may return before I perish, or He may not, but in the meantime, as I read the scriptures, or here the Word being spoken, I have an anticipation to worship Christ. What will you teach me today. What lessons can I learn that will cause me to become more Christlike as I unite myself to others who are willing to submit themselves to the washing of water, which comes from applying what we have been taught by Jesus. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to guide, lead and teach us new truths, the more we will become united to the cause of Christ, and we will continue to lose our stains and wrinkles and we will become holy and blameless on that day when he returns to receive His bride. Then we will celebrate at the wedding feast with Him, who is our redeemer.

On Tuesday night we had Tom Casper who is a pottery artist help several children and adults make items, mostly bowls that each participant could take home, after the items are fired in a couple of weeks. There were about 30 people who attended. My job was to teach the lesson. God is the potter and we are the clay. A couple of the highlights of the lesson included the story about Jesus healing the blind man when He reached into the ground and grabbed dirt and spit in it and made clay and rubbed it in the blind man's eye. The man was not healed right then, but Jesus told him first he must go to the pool and wash the dirt off His eyes. He believed the words of Jesus and was obedient to that truth and was immediately healed. That is how Christ wants to work in our lives. We hear the Word, but if we do not apply what we heard, we will not receive or be cleansed by what we were taught.

Do you want to be used by the Master? I do! In a large house there are many vessels. Some for honor, and some for dishonor. If we allow ourselves to be cleansed by the Word, we will become Sanctified, and useful, and we will be ready for every good work, which Christ has prepared in advance that we would be able to walk into the purpose He has for us.

So next time you come to church or read your Bible come prepared with an expectation that you would love to be changed this day by what you have learned by the great teacher and continue to get ready for that beautiful day when you and I will see the bridegroom face to face.