As you read about Lydia, several things leap off the pages of God’s Word.
She was a business woman; she sold material (verse 14).
She worshipped God (verse 14).
She desired to learn more about God (verse 14).
Although she was saved, she had never been Scripturally baptized (verse 15).
She desired to be hospitable (verses 15 and 40).
I believe that as you study about Lydia, you can see that she was faithful in her desire to please God.
There is a great illustration of faithfulness that comes from the days when Ronald Reagan was President.
One of the most tragic events during the Reagan Presidency was the Sunday morning terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, in which hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept. Many of us can still recall the terrible scenes as the dazed survivors worked to dig out their trapped brothers from beneath the rubble.
A few days after the tragedy, I recall coming across an extraordinary story. Marine Corps Commandant Paul X. Kelly visited some of the wounded survivors then in a Frankfort, Germany, hospital. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived.
As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words, “Semper Fi,” the Latin motto of the Marines meaning “forever faithful.” With those two simple words Nashton spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed body and limb and their lives for their country – those who have remained faithful.
Let me challenge you to remain faithful to God all the days of your life.
What to do:
✞ Don’t just endure to the end, be faithful while enduring.
