Do You Have the Right Attire?

While reading Matthew 22 regarding the wedding banquet, I took particular notice to vs. 12-15 “Friend, he asked how is it that you are without wedding clothes? And the man had no reply. Then the King said to his aides. Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” I don’t know if I’ve ever read those passages of scriptures before. It seemed odd to me that the King would be surprised that one of the guests didn’t have on the proper wedding clothes since the invitation was unexpected. He goes on to have the man tied and thrown into outer darkness. After meditating on it little more, I realized that in fact all kinds of people (good & bad) had been invited. But after receiving the invitation to come to the King’s banquet, I imagined that they changed their garments just like we want to look extra nice when going to some place special. Yet, this person didn’t bother to change but just showed up to see what was going on. He didn’t even reply when the King asked why he was improperly dressed. If he had answered, the King being the King, could have easily obtained the proper attire. The Spirit says some people really don’t want to change their garments (i.e. their deeds, thinking, attitudes) but being the bride of Christ or part of the Kingdom requires a change. He’s called us to put on the new nature of Christ and put away bitterness, wrath, anger, malice, evil speaking. For the areas in our lives that we lack the proper clothing, all that’s necessary is to acknowledge it to our King, who is the only one able to bring about lasting change in our lives. Failure to do so can result in us spending an eternity in outer darkness.