Lydia is only mentioned a few times in the New Testament and one of those was at her conversion. You find the story in Act 16:14.
“A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”
I love that Lydia was the very first European convert. I love that God opened her heart to respond to the things Paul spoke and the first person whose heart He opened was a woman.
From the verse, we know a couple things about Lydia. She was a seller of purple fabric so she was probably a woman of prominence and wealth. For one thing, purple dye was expensive and purple fabric would have been considered a luxury item. She also invited foreign men into her home and there is no man mentioned. It’s commonly thought she was a wealthy, well-connected widow.
The second thing we notice is that she was a worshiper of God. She acknowledged who He was but she didn’t know about Jesus.
I think there is a key thing we can learn from Lydia though. You’ll notice it says that the LORD opened her heart, and she responded.
In order to respond to what we hear, we have to let God open our hearts. It’s easy to keep our heart closed or to let it get hard or even calloused.
There is so much going on in this world, it’s easy to not even hear when God is whispering our names, but Lydia was ready. She already worshiped God. She was primed for the next step – to respond.
How is your heart these days? Is it soft and easy for God to open?
Blessings, Rosanne
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