Lydia from the Bible and Life Lessons from her!

Lydia only appears in one chapter in Acts 16, but still we can learn a few really interesting things about her. 



Who Was Lydia?
Lydia sells purple cloth. She comes from Thyatira, a wealthy town known for its trade guilds and purple dye. Lydia no longer lives in Thyatira when Paul meets her, but rather, in the city of Philippi, a city in Macedonia.

What do we know about her?
➡️First, she sells purple cloth. Not every regular Gentile or Jew got a chance to wear this "special colour" two millennia ago.

➡️Second, after she and her entire family accepts Christ and are baptized, they invite Paul and Silas (a ministry companion of Paul’s) into their home.

These may appear like minor details, but we should note that even important people in the early Church may just have gotten a verse or two of dedication from Paul. Yet here, Lydia appears in several verses in Acts 16. 

Often people would point to verses such as the one about the braiding of hair (1 Peter 3:3) as an argument against doing “worldly” things for beauty, let alone a “worldly” job such as selling purple cloth. Nevertheless, because Lydia sells purple cloth, she is able to accommodate Paul and his ministry partners in her home. She has both a practical job and a heavenly one here on earth. 

Lydia’s life is significant to the Gospel in a number of ways. 

Firstly, we can see what thriving in a new culture looks like. We don’t know why Lydia made the move, whether she married a foreigner or had to leave due to Roman persecution. No matter the case, she probably had some frustrations from uprooting from her hometown.

Still, she thrived in the new city, and because of her new placement, God allowed for her journey to coincide with Paul’s. This led to the conversion of her and her family.

Secondly, we can know that not every Catholic/Christian has to end up a missionary. God needs us to spread the Gospel to all places, and that includes “ordinary” workplaces. 

Finally, Lydia shows us that we also need to show hospitality. Especially if God has granted us more abundance than other faithful, we need to show generosity to those who do not have as much. After all, the money does not belong to us. 

God calls some of us into “worldly” jobs. Through that occupation, like Lydia, we could bear witness to Christ!


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