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Written by Michelle J. Goff, Director of Iron Rose Sister Ministries
I felt out of place when I first arrived. Everyone noticed my accent. Thankfully, my oddly red-stained hands from the madder root only served to promote my business.
It started out as a family business. My dad taught me as a child. His red-stained, weathered hands guided mine as he trained me in each step of the dying process.
My favorite part was growing and digging for madder root. It grew best in the moist ground near the river. And every time I went down to the river, I felt closer to God, our Creator, Yahweh, the one true God we worshipped.
I cried out to our God when father got sick. Yet, I had to trust in His plan when father was taken from us and I was left to run the family business. After months of caring for him in his illness, our business had suffered. And with the dip in production, we lost some of our clients. They did not know me as well as they knew father.
And as much as I tried, my father’s reputation was not enough. There was simply not enough business to go around and I was losing much of my profits in transport to other locations in order to obtain new clients.
Try as I might, I had to move to a more strategic location... maybe a more modern or developed Roman city where a female businesswoman would be respected for the quality of her dyes.
Thyatira, my hometown, located in Asia or modern-day Turkey. was not on a well-traversed trade route. However, Philippi was a coastal town, a Roman colony and the leading city in that district of Macedonia. The best part: I heard there was a river outside the city gates.
The river became my home away from home, a place of refuge, of prayer, and a blessed time gathering with other women.
I had been a worshipper of God for some time, but one day, down by the river, I listened to these men teach about Yahweh, the same God I worshipped and in whom I believed. I had never heard anyone speak of God in the way these men did.
As soon as I heard the good news, I had to tell everyone in my house all about this Jesus! Everyone believed along with me and we were all baptized that very day!
I invited Paul and Silas, these teachers and followers of Jesus, to stay in my home. They wanted to continue their journey, but when I offered them generous provisions and rest from their weary travels, they were convinced. The fact that they had already sampled my best chef’s excellent cooking did not hurt matters.
From that point on, my home had greater purpose. Receiving Paul and Silas after their escape from prison… And even the jailer, who was converted on the very night of their escape, and his entire family, became part of our church gatherings from that point forward.
As Paul later wrote us, I continue to rejoice in the way God guided my life to Philippi, in order to hear the good news, and be a proclaimer of that good news to those who buy my purple. I love to tell them about how my red-stained hands pale in comparison to the one who bore my stains on the cross.
For the full story of Lydia and the church In Philippi, read Acts 16. The monologue shared in this post was written as an illustration of how Lydia might have shared her story if she were with us today. We recognize the creative license that was used to create this entry and pray that it is not a distraction from the overall message of Lydia's faith and hospitality.
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Written by Wendy Neill, Advancement Coordinator for Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Arkansas
God is eternal, and he created you to live eternally. John tells us that if we believe in his Son, we can know that we have eternal life.
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1John 5:11-13)
Leaning into this knowledge can make all the difference in how we live. Randy Alcorn, the Founder and Director of Eternal Perspective Ministries, often uses this analogy: “live for the line.”
I think of our lives in terms of a dot and a line, signifying two phases. Our present life on earth is the dot. It begins. It ends. It’s brief. However, from the dot, a line extends that goes on forever. That line is eternity, which Christians will spend in heaven. Right now we’re living in the dot. But what are we living for? The shortsighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line. (Source: blog post on EPM’s website.)
What are some practical ways we can embrace our eternal nature and “live for the line?” Let me offer three suggestions:
- Eagerly anticipate heaven - We have so intertwined the topic of heaven with our fear of death, that we often avoid the subject. But God tells us about our future home for a reason. He wants us to look forward to it! I encourage you to download our free ePetal study Heaven on the Horizon and spend time in the Word learning about your eternal home. In my own life, I have found that focusing on heaven brings joy and purpose to my life. It provides strength to get through my momentary struggles (2 Corinthians 4:17).
- Store up treasure in heaven - Jesus taught us to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20). How? Serve others as if you were serving the Lord (Colossians 3:22-25), expect and abide mistreatment (Hebrews 11:26, James 1:12), do good to your enemies (Luke 6:35), plant and water kingdom seeds (1 Corinthians 3:8), and care for the poor and marginalized (Luke 14:13-14).
- Lead others to heaven - When you are truly focused on heaven, your joy rubs off on others. It is easier to share your faith when you know, deep down, that what you are offering others is eternal rest, joy, and relationship, instead of a list of rules and church attendance.
How will you “live for the line” this week?