Paul meets Lydia

Acts 16:11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15 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.

Lydia was a businesswoman with a home. Purple was an expensive color to make. The color was obtained from the Mediterranean mollusks.[1] The mollusks is an invertebrate. It looks like a snail with a shell on its back. The glands of the insect were boiled in lead vats to make the dye. She would be considered the head of the household. Paul explains Jesus to her. She brings her household to believe the Message. Lydia and her household were Baptized.

What about you? Are you worthy to be followed? Are you moving your household to Jesus?

[1] “Blue,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015), 228.

Bibliography

“Blue.” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 228. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015.