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Lydia

Text: Acts 16:11-15, Philippians 1:3-11, Hebrews 13:2, 1 Peter 4:9
 When I was in my twenties, I adopted an unwritten motto: Life is short, make it beautiful. I loved the idea of making things pretty, and most often my design palette was my house.
In my first house on Highland Hills Drive, I chose soft white walls and the palest carpet. For my kitchen, I picked a soothing, creamy-colored tile for the floors and an equally light countertop. I saw my house as a blank canvas on which to create a beautiful life.

However, the house on Highland Hills was also a home to my family. My husband Will and I had three small children at the time and a black lab named Mike. I guess I don’t have to tell you that the people in my life (and Mike) often managed to inadvertently wreck my motto.
When my kids had friends over, I was endlessly wiping up the muddy footprints that inevitably landed on my ‘beautiful’ creamy tile floors. Small, smudgy fingerprints always marked those light countertops. And the carpet? Well, that carpet was a daily maintenance issue for me.
Since I carried such high expectations for my house, it was a really big deal to have people over—after all, there was so much to clean and pretty! Will often had to get the kids out of the house just so I could make things ‘beautiful’ again. House cleaning, table setting, candle lighting: I thought those were the necessary components of hospitality.
Hospitality involved menu planning, grocery trips, and lots of cooking. It was hard, it took a lot of time, and it was utterly exhausting. I thought hospitality was just another word for entertaining—a platform to show off a beautiful life.
In Acts, there is a story of a truly beautiful life, a story of real hospitality. It is impulsive and creative, and it has nothing to do with entertaining. Here we meet Lydia, a woman who invites Paul and his friends to stay at her house.
On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed. (Acts 16:13-15 NLT)
I’ve wondered a lot about Lydia. As a “merchant of expensive purple cloth,” she was likely a woman with a strong aesthetic (v.14). Who knows? Maybe she even had a ‘Life is short, make it beautiful’ motto, like me. Yet, here in Scripture, she is recognized not for a lovely home but for her open heart. Lydia was attuned to God, not her ideals.
Lydia was a new believer, her heart recently captured by the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus as she listened to the disciples that day. Not only her, but her whole household received the Gospel along with her! And immediately after “the Lord opened her heart,” Lydia opened her home, insisting that Paul and Silas stay with her. Notice how she asks: “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home” (v.15).
The quality that made Lydia worthy of hosting her guests was not the condition of her home, but the condition of her heart. Lydia had met Jesus, repented of her sin, and believed. Her status as a child of God was all that mattered; any beauty beyond that was just a bonus.
We’ve long since moved out of that Highland Hills house. And while I don’t have the motto anymore, I do hope, by His grace, I have an open heart. I invite people over regularly without worrying about whether my house is immaculate, and I’ve found the most beautiful thing about a woman is not the way she decorates her house or sets her table. The most beautiful thing about a woman is the vulnerability of her heart to Jesus and His people.
Friends, let’s pray and ask God to open our hearts to Him. Let’s pray and ask God to keep our focus on His people. And let’s look for ways to spontaneously celebrate what God is doing with His people in our lives and in our homes. Because life is short … and God is beautiful.
 shereadstruth.com  - Women In the Word

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