March 1, 2025

Acts 16, 15

Lydia II

When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.

Dear Readers,

the stamp which I am showing you today also reminds me of Lydia, the cloth merchant from Thyatira. Both the workers on the stamp and Lydia had something to do with fabrics. The GDR (East Germany) stamp shows a woman, presumably working in a weaving mill, proudly displaying a piece of fabric. Lydia was not trying to impress Paul with her purple fabrics but showed her faith. She was baptized in the name of God, the Father and the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This baptism had consequences. Lydia now belonged to the greater Christian family. She had become a child of God. Paul and his co-workers were no longer strangers, but brothers and sisters in faith. She now wanted to share her faith with them in a very practical way. 

Lydia's case illustrates what the apostle Paul later wrote to the church in Corinth (2 Cor. 5:17): Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!

Lydia begins her new life in Christ with an invitation. After opening her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, she now opens her home to her new brothers and sisters as well. But she doesn't use the new contacts for “sales talks” in order to sell her purple fabrics. She wants to show everyone her joy in Jesus Christ. She celebrates her new life with Jesus with everyone. 

This had a huge impact. Paul and his friends eventually moved on, while Lydia and her family stayed behind in Philippi. But God made something big out of this: He allowed his church to grow in this place. Paul later wrote a letter to this church, the letter to the Philippians. It is a letter of joy (and I recommend you to read through this letter once, it is not very long).

When you read the letter, you will also discover what God created out of this encounter between Lydia and Paul. God built a church out of it, his church! God also opened the hearts of other people in Philippi. Where God's Spirit is at work, new things are created for His glory. 

There is a very old hymn of faith that begins with the words “God sits at the loom of my life and his hand holds the threads. He creates and works not in vain when a pattern pleases him ....”

I hope that God has the threads of your life in His hands, just as He did with Lydia. Give HIM free rein to weave what He wants from the threads of your life. I am convinced that you will be amazed at the pattern He is weaving into your life. You will rejoice in God's creativity like the worker on the stamp rejoices in the beautiful fabric.

I look forward to your visit on March 15, 2025. May the Almighty God bless and keep you in spirit, soul and body. May you be entrusted to his love!