Today's Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 16:13-15:
On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us.
Lydia was a small to medium-size business owner. She was an entrepreneur. At one time I was told she was a widow, but that was somebody's patriarchal interpretation because there is no mention of her ever having a husband. Nor is there any mention of her father. All that the Bible says is that she was a business owner. And she must have been a good one, because she owned a house large enough for the disciples to stay in and also use as a gathering place.
Today is Lydia's Feast Day, and a good reminder that not all women need a man to make a living, nor to make a difference.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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