And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us. Acts 16:15
When you are in a crowded place or on a busy street, do you ever look around and wonder if there are other Christians among all of those people? I know I do, and if you are like me, you try to identify people who might also be believers. But how do you tell? Clothing doesn’t always give people away, because there are many unsaved folks who happen to dress as decently and modestly as Christians should. Conversation will eliminate most of the profane and blasphemous from consideration, but there are many other people who do not descend into potty talk and blasphemy. There may be other ways to identify who might or might not be a Christian. And that’s because when the Lord comes into our experience and saves us, He makes some changes that are noticeable. As Lydia displays in our text, some of those changes make us much different from the world around us.
Lydia proved her conversion by being baptized. That was a big deal in those days; nobody was baptized and identified with the Christians unless they were willing to endure the ridicule of the world and the shame from family and friends. But Lydia went even further. She unreservedly offered the hospitality of her home to the missionary team. This was very gracious and generous of her. Certainly it was nothing she would have done if she were still in her sins. She was a businesswoman, and opening her house to strangers would have been an extravagance that she would have shunned. But now she was a Christian, and the Holy Spirit records that her newfound faith produced a change in her. Hospitality toward the Lord’s people was now something that flowed from her. Hospitality towards the Lord’s people is something that should flow automatically from us, and Lydia sets for us an excellent example.
We have all been recipients of the generosity and hospitality of Christians. Christians have invited us to their homes for a meal, and have opened their homes for us when we were visitors during conferences. These are expressions of generosity that the world knows little about and fails to appreciate. Hospitable Christians do not see their hospitality as a burden, because they are giving of themselves firstly for the Lord. If we can grasp the truth that what we do for the Lord’s people is the same as doing it for the Lord Himself, we will be more willing to put ourselves out for the Lord’s people.
As we follow Lydia’s lovely example of hospitality toward the Lord’s people, we can set an example that will be appreciated by the saints and will be a testimony to the unsaved. -Jim MacIntosh