The older I get, the more I find myself just wanting to know what it looks like to be faithful over the long haul, no matter the season or circumstance—just faithful. Steadfast. I’m so encouraged by stories of women who quietly stewarded their everyday opportunities with excellence, women who humbly ran in their lane, serving and loving and graciously pointing people in their path to Jesus. Give me real women, in real stories, to put flesh on the bones of what it looks like to be faithful and to run the race with perseverance (Hebrews 12:1-3).
God has woven beautiful threads of the lives of faithful women into the stunning tapestry of Scripture, and one of those threads is Lydia. In Acts 16:11-15, we’re introduced to Lydia. Paul and Silas had gone to Philippi to share the good news of Jesus. They found a group of women gathered by a river outside the city, and Paul and Silas began to speak to them. Lydia was there, and she was described as “one of those listening” to Paul and Silas.
Lydia was a dealer of purple cloth, which was particularly remarkable for a woman in the patriarchal society of that day. Purple cloth such as hers was of profound significance, as it was of the highest value and would have most often been worn by kings and priests. In fact, when Jesus was mocked by the soldiers before his crucifixion, they put on Him a robe made of such cloth.
When the good news of the saving grace and love of Jesus intersected Lydia’s life that day by the river, it changed everything. Not only did Lydia get baptized, but so did everyone in her household. Lydia invited Paul and Silas to stay in her home, and the story of the church in Philippi began with Lydia as a founding member.
So what can we learn about faithfulness from the life of Lydia?
We can ask Jesus for a humble and tender heart that is responsive to what He teaches us. Scripture shares that Lydia had a heart open to the gospel. Some versions of Scripture say that Lydia listened with intensity and that God gave her a trusting heart to believe. Other versions say that God opened her heart to pay attention. May our hearts ever be clay in the hands of the Potter (Jeremiah 18:6).
We can ask Jesus to help us steward our relationships faithfully. When Lydia came to understand the gospel, she used her own sphere of influence to point others to Jesus. Whether it’s our roommate, a coworker, a mom from school, a potential client at a business lunch, or one of our children sitting across the kitchen table from us, Jesus puts people in our path in particular moments for a purpose. Faithfulness in stewarding relationships is pointing people to Jesus not only with our words but with the fabric of our everyday lives as well. How we live, how we love, how we speak, how we serve. This is not from our own striving but because we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. In his kindness and love, Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to renew and transform us daily into who He created us to be (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
God has created us with specific giftings to steward faithfully. Lydia leveraged her giftings for the gospel. Scripture gives us a glimpse into Lydia’s persistence, which must have been part of how Lydia became a successful business owner, as it says, “she persuaded” Paul and Silas to stay in her home. This might be an encouragement for a parent who is raising a “strong-willed” child: that persevering and determined spirit can be stewarded for great purposes! However we are wired, Ephesians 2:10 tells us that “we are each God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We can confidently lean into who God made us (and our children) and has gifted us, trusting that He invites each of us into His story and His purposes.
God has entrusted us with spaces to steward faithfully and leverage for the gospel. We might assume that Lydia had a larger home in order to host Paul and Silas and the early church, but a large home is not a requirement for making a space where people can be loved, safe, and cared for. A social-media-worthy spread is not a stipulation for someone to feel welcome at your table. Lydia’s hospitality reminds us to faithfully open our hearts and our hands to whatever God has given us, be it much or little, and trust Him with the outcome.
Remember that everyday work is holy work when we commit it to the Lord. The purple dye needed to make Lydia’s purple cloth was highly valuable and costly to make. It required the collecting of large quantities of a particular snail found in the Mediterranean Sea. The dye-maker would follow an intricate process of extracting specific properties from the snails and then exposing those properties to sunlight for a particular period of time.
How many days was Lydia just mundanely collecting sea snails? How many restarts did it take for Lydia to find just the exact right amount of sunlight to make her particular hew of sought-after purple dye?
But she persevered in the grind. Lydia’s faithfulness and perseverance to run in her lane, to be open to things of God, and to steward her opportunities well would one day be a part of how God used her to build His church (Colossians 3:23).
You might not find yourself collecting sea snails like Lydia, but perhaps today, you are going to class, working hard at your job, changing your 47th diaper of the day, in your afternoon carpool hustle era, or caring for an aging parent.
Wherever we find ourselves, may this be our prayer: Lord, help us be faithful to lean into our particular lanes and our unique seasons of life, in the seen and unseen moments, with hearts open to what you are teaching us and hands open to the opportunities before us, “holding unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:22-23)
Our paths of faithfulness will all look different, but when this is our heart’s posture, our lives will point to the One whose faithfulness never fails. His faithfulness is new every morning. And as we abide in Him, and He in us, our faith in HIS faithfulness grows and grows and overflows into the very seams of our lives.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
We are so thankful for Lydia’s shimmering thread of faith—maybe it’s a purple one—in the tapestry of Scripture. Just as Jesus, in his kindness, love, and saving grace, wove Lydia into His eternal story, each one of us, in our own color and texture and particular place and time and pattern, is woven into His story as well. Praise Jesus!
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