Do You See the Welcome Sign?

I have always loved wedding dresses. Still do.  As a teenager a friend and I tried on wedding gowns for fun one day. Now I know those folks that owned the store must have been a little frustrated at us, but you know they treated us like royalty.  They helped and admired and let us try on everything.

As I got older it was time to pick out my own wedding dress. This time it was not just for fun.  I had my mother and my niece Kim with me. Kim was my maid of honor. I chose her because she always meant the world to me. We were only 18 months apart, so we virtually grew up together. I still love her very much! We had a grand time trying on dresses, from huge hoop skirts to lacy long sleeved sequined outfits…finally I found the one I loved and you guessed it – I said Yes to the dress!

While in the fitting room, there are lots of ways to try on dresses that don’t exactly fit.  They use clips on the back to cinch it up if it is too large and other ways to fix and finagle the fitting so that you can walk out on the floor. When on the floor, you are placed in front of a three way mirror and they can also stand you on a riser so the skirt falls right.

All in all the fit can be made right for whoever tries the dress on.  No one is beyond finding their one dress. No one gets turned away, although some do walk away. They move on to find other dresses in other places- hoping to find that perfect dress.  To hear that a wedding dress shop turns someone away is unheard of.  Who would tell a bride she wasn’t right for their shop? Who would scold a bride and tell her there was no way she’d fit, no way she could purchase one of their dresses. I can’t imagine hearing a bridal shop clerk say that their dresses are simply for a more elite, exclusive clientele.

Yet often we see just that happen. Someone isn’t exactly like us and we tend to be stand offish. They make waves and we don’t want them to change a thing in our world.  They are larger than life or quiet as a mouse and we feel uncomfortable. Sometimes gang mentality occurs and everyone begins shouting at the one who doesn’t fit in and finally they just leave, of their own accord of course.  You can’t blame us – everyone’s welcome. Right?

Maybe you’ve been the object of someone’s rejection. You thought you were right where you should be, but no one could see your value, no one thought you could possible fit. They may have simply given you the cold shoulder; or they could have been outright ugly and demanding. Either way, you are left alone to wonder where to go for the next fitting? Is there anywhere someone like you can really find their place?

Oh, beloved!  There is a place that’s just right for you! It is in the Body of Christ! In the body of Christ everything fits, everyone fits. It doesn’t matter your economic or social standing, your personality, your flaws, your differences, your looks, your stuff, your height, your hair color – nothing matters! For all are welcome in the body.  You don’t have to have a thing to receive this perfect fit – for Jesus came and paid for it all! You are the Bride of Christ Himself – and He always takes you in, adjusts your life and makes you completely fit for heaven!

Rejoice that you can find your perfect fit in the perfect shop and never, ever be turned away! For the Owner, God Himself loves you and He’s for you just the way you are!

Ephesians 4:16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Romans 12:5 So it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Ephesians 1:4 Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.

Colossians 1:22 Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

Ephesians 2:19 Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you now share citizenship with the saints (God’s own people, consecrated and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God’s [own] household. (Amplified)