Lydia of Philippi

2 Kings 4:18-7:20

Acts 15:1-16:15

Psalm 141:1-142:7

Proverbs 17:23-25

The story of Lydia!

Her story is short but obviously it has affected my life quite a bit. My mom was a student at Biola taking a class on the book of Acts when she and my dad found out I was going to be born. Acts was my mom's favorite class and she decided to name me after one of the characters: Lydia!

Her story is very short, but we know a lot about her. She was Philippian, she was the first European convert to Christianity. She sold purple cloth for a living, which meant she was wealthy because purple was a color for wealthy and/or royal people.

She was generous and hospitable, we see that after she is baptized and she invites Paul and his company to stay at her house. Which is cool because Paul and his company were probably just counting on God to provide a place for them to stay when they got there anyway.

And the other thing that is said about Lydia, that I find particularly interesting as a worship leader myself, is that she is called, before her conversion, a worshiper of God.

I don't know what this means, but it seems to me that she may have been one of those people like Rahab, Ruth, or Cornelius, who knew about the God of the Hebrews and wanted in. Praise Jesus for making the way!

The church in Philippi met at Lydia's house, which probably means the letter to the Philippians, i.e. the book of Philippians in the New Testament, was delivered to Lydia's house.

Names have always been important to me, I've been picking names out for my future children since I was playing house at 5 years old. I didn't use to like my name very much because it's so uncommon...but eventually I started to like it and now I really love it.

I think my namesake is pretty awesome. I relate to her in many ways, Philippians is my favorite book in the Bible, and I hope to model the characteristics she is portrayed with: generosity, hospitality, great faith, and devotion to worshiping God. She seems gentle and gracious, things I hope and pray to be.

Being named after her feels to me like a promise that God will continue to mold me into a woman like her, but more importantly and more accurately, He is molding my heart to be more and more gentle, kind, gracious, and faithful like Christ.