“She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.”
Acts 16:15 (NLT)
Lydia is brand new to following Jesus, and the first thing she does is open her home. She is all in. The Lord opened her heart, she believed, and her whole household was baptized. That’s not a small detail, it’s fruit. When Jesus gets ahold of a heart, it doesn’t stay private, it spreads to the people closest to us.
Then she urges Paul and the missionary team to come stay with her until they agree. Nobody had to teach her to love on other believers. This wasn’t an afterthought, it was immediate. The Holy Spirit is leading and guiding her, and she wants this faith that she’s received to take root in her and her family’s lives. Acts 10:48 reveals Cornelius had the same response as Lydia and asked the believers that shared the Good News to fellowship in his home.
That’s what believers do. We seek fellowship with one another, and as we gather over a meal, in worship, over coffee, or in a phone call, we get to point one another to heaven. We are iron sharpening iron, and we receive the love God wants to pour out on us through other believers. Acts 2:42 shows us this is how the church has always been built: devotion to the teaching, devotion to fellowship, devotion to sharing in meals, and devotion to prayer. So much of that happens right in our homes.
We need other believers. How can those who have just met Jesus understand that, and yet so often we don’t? Fellowship is not work. Fellowship is an opportunity. It’s a blessing. It’s a gift. I pray that we will urge one another to fellowship with other believers until we do it. I want to be like Lydia and Cornelius today, and be all-in on sharing my faith with my immediate family and extending our family by seeking fellowship with other believers.