Daily Devotions
Every Preacher Needs a Lydia
Reading for May 3rd: 1 Chronicles 7-8
Weekly reading for May 3-9: Acts 16-19
And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 16:15
The hospitality of Lydia is something the apostle Paul never forgot. Years later he would begin his letter to the church at Philippi thanking God for their "partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:5), which is a direct reference to the fact that Lydia, after her conversion, graciously opened up her home to Paul to stay there.
Every preacher needs at least one Lydia, sisters who are aware of his needs and will move heaven and earth to see those needs are met. They open their homes for studies, grade correspondence courses, mail flyers to advertise gospel meetings, and in general bend over backwards to do what they can to make an evangelist's job easier (and then downplay any sacrifice they make).
What is most encouraging about sisters like Lydia is what drives their service: the Lord Jesus Christ, as Lydia said, "If you have judged me faithful to the Lord..."
Father, I thank You for all the Lydias You have put in my life.
