Good Morning Friends,
That gift and spark that makes a relationship alive in the personality of Jesus is indeed powerful. I think we get a picture of this happening in the story of Lydia and Paul when truth is revealed in the sharing of the Gospel. Here we learn about love and the work of the Holy Spirit in the making of a home that is not only where the heart is but also a place of eternity. So, What Opens You To An Everlasting Love?
Scripture: We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 16:11-15 (NRSV)
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. “I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
John 15:26-16:4a (NRSV)
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
1 John 5:6 (NRSV)
Message: It is tempting to make one’s business one’s religion. This mistake took Judas out. His heart was in the wrong place. Whereas in the case of Jesus he served in love because that was the Father’s calling for him. These are very different expressions of the heart. Lydia is an example of a businesswoman who seems to have gotten both business and religion right. Well, perhaps I should say that God opened her heart, so her emotions of love would heal her and help her understand her higher calling. We do not know a lot about her, but it is a fair guess that she was strong and intelligent and a good salesperson. The purple cloth she manufactured and distributed was a valuable material, often worn as a sign of nobility. The purple dyes were extracted from various shells and roots that required her to travel to source them. Her name and product line and one of the places where she lived may have been synonymous. Despite competing in a male-oriented society, Lydia was likely a leader in her community. She lived in a gateway town of Thyatira located in modern-day Turkey but experienced her conversion in Philippi in modern-day Greece, where she had a large home. It is fair to say she travelled. Her hometown is referenced in one of the longer letters to the churches in Revelation, which is surprising because it seems to have been one of the smaller communities. The Church of Philippi has its own letter from Paul but is not referenced in Revelation. The seven letters of Paul to churches and the seven churches in Revelation do not match up. Interestingly three of the churches listed of the seven in Revelation: Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia were in the Roman province formerly called Lydia and like Lydia the woman was very prosperous. Regardless, what is most telling about Lydia the person is that her heart was opened by the Holy Spirit through Paul. They seem to have shared an intimacy that is intriguing. What is instructive is that her open heart led to an open house most likely with all its members being baptized. She has become an example of hospitality that points to Jesus.
And So, too many people find it difficult to open their hearts and their homes. Too few have homes where Jesus rules. Too many are freed and frozen at the same time failing to testify to the truth. Their lives are cut off from their feelings and if you have been dealing with life from your head disconnected from those around you, and if you do not remember shedding a tear for another person, then maybe you too have failed to keep love alive in your heart. Maybe you shield your heart from having been hurt in the past. But unless we love we never get the opportunity to be nourished by it. Unless we are vulnerable and embody a reckless love like God’s, we cannot claim to be truly living. And yes, the world just hates it when people are moved to love with abandon in witness to Jesus. But friends, it is here, as we learn to bear witness to Jesus, that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter begins to teach us the ways of how to love. And if we love sharing the love we have received, life can indeed birth something wonderful. So, friends, always be ready to give an account of the hope that is within us knowing that the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus with us, and through us to God’s glory as our hearts are opened to the power of the Spirit of Christ. The effect of this Jesus love in the lives of others is that it draws people out of the mire of sin by the cross of and even out of the grip of death by Jesus’ resurrection all with a loving kindness that makes a house a home and a relationship something that becomes eternal.
Pray we open our hearts to the things of beauty that invite Jesus into our homes. Pray we love to tell the story of Jesus in our stories. Pray we are in touch with the joys and sorrows of life ready to become story makers. Pray we surround ourselves with life. Pray we do things we love. Pray we visualize light and life and love in our relationships. Pray we inhale the healing of the Spirit of Jesus even as we share the words of witness. Pray we let go of the past. Pray we become open to receiving. Pray we embrace our fears. Pray we help others without expectation. Pray we learn to love unconditionally. Pray we keep love in our hearts. Pray we see the role of the Holy Spirit in teaching us how to love. Pray we open our hearts to the home Jesus is making for us. Pray we learn how to serve the Lord in love. Pray God gives us a job to do and we are willing to do it. Pray God gives us trusting hearts. Pray that the Spirit draws us to salvation. Pray our hearts are opened. Pray we always find time to love. Pray we open our homes and hearts to God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 