On this day in 1886, the first dinner jacket was worn to the autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, New York.

Now you know where the name tuxedo came from. And ever since that fateful day in New York, men have been wearing tuxes at special occasions.

Actually getting dressed up can be fun, especially when we’re looking forward to the event—a concert, a dinner, a party, a wedding. But have you ever heard the expression, “All dressed up, but no place to go”? That paints a very sad picture. It implies that the person either missed the party or didn’t get invited.

Jesus once described the kingdom of God as a party, a banquet, a wedding feast (see Matthew 22:1-14). And he talked about the necessity of wearing “the proper clothes” (v. 11). He was illustrating the truth that everyone who enters Heaven must be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. God provides the “formal attire” for the occasion.

Today, many people think God will allow them to party at his banquet because they are decent people—they haven’t done anything really terrible, or they have done a bunch of good deeds. Those “clothes” might look OK here on earth, but they won’t make it there. The Bible is very clear that only by putting our trust in Jesus—believing in him as God’s Son and that he died on the cross for our sins, admitting our sinfulness, and asking him to take over—can we be saved.

And you know what’s really sad? These right clothes are available to anyone who believes, yet so many refuse. They’d rather wear their rags than God’s “tuxedo.”

There’s another event where a person wears fancy clothes—for his or her funeral. Everyone goes there sooner or later. Sadly, many will be all dressed up with no good place to go.

And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again . . . he will bring salvation to all those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:27, 28).

To Do

Stop and pray right now for your relatives, friends, and neighbors who do not know Christ. Ask God to open their hearts to him and his free gift of forgiveness and salvation.

Also on this day

This is Bring Your Teddy to Work Day. (Can you bear it?)

1845—The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Maryland.

1969—Pro football quarterback Brett Favre was born.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.