by Judith C Evans

Created on: September 21, 2009   Last Updated: December 10, 2009

Acts 16:15 "And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.' " (NKJV)

We tend to forget that the men and women in the Bible were human beings just like us.  God worked through them to accomplish His purposes, and continues to work through ordinary people today.  When we shrug helplessly and wonder, "what difference can I make," we can look to the Bible for examples of seemingly ordinary acts which served to change history.  A simple act of courtesy or kindness may provide the foundation for a dramatic, needed change.  While working at a faith-based homeless shelter, I studied the Bible story of an upperclass woman who did what was expected of her: she invited needy strangers into her comfortable home.  Women, including those of us at the shelter, have been carrying out this charitable act for centuries.  As we will see from the following study of Acts 16, one woman's humble gesture to strangers provided needed support for Paul's missionary work in Europe.             

Lydia of Thyatira, a successful businesswoman in the first-century Roman colony of Philippi, had everything to lose. She was a seller of purple dye and and possibly purple cloth (Acts 16:14). Her clients were society's elites: royalty and members of the nobility, people who felt threatened by the radical new faith preached by Paul and his companions. We do not know if Lydia was a widow or if she ever married, but we do know that she owned her own home (Acts 16:15). As Paul's first European convert, she risked all that she had acquired and achieved to aid in the spread of the gospel. Her story is an example of a faith-filled Christian life of obedience, hospitality, and generosity.

Lydia's story is not as widely known as the story of other women in the Bible, but she played a crucial role in the development of the early church. During his second missionary journey, Paul had planned to preach in Asia Minor, but the Lord, in a vision, instructed him to change his itinerary and go to Macedonia. Outside the city of Philippi, at a riverside, he met Lydia and a group of women at prayer. The Lord opened Lydia's heart, and she and her entire household were baptized. She invited Paul and Silas to stay at her home,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>