Chalk It Up To: An Idealistic, Inquiring, Intense, Impassioned, Infectious Individual

Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives; they're like spring rain and sunshine. 

Proverbs 16:15 (MSG)

Wow, that’s a tad overwhelming to me. Can you even picture yourself as an idealistic, inquiring, intense, impassioned, infectious individual? Must be a composite drawing of the perfect woman, that which is achieved through our interdependence on each other, our varied giftedness. But as I read deeper, I’m not sure. God suggests those qualities inhabit any leader who wishes to shower others with His glory. Pick them apart, the Hebrew words underscore cheerfulness, vitality, refreshment, and enlightenment.  

Who would fit this Scripture snapshot? Lydia has an interesting profile, Acts 16:13-15, 40. All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen fills in some of the gaps from Scripture. As a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, now living in Philippi, Lydia had the distinction of being a successful business woman. She was looked up to by her household, and adored by the other women in the community. We first run across Lydia and a bunch of her women friends outside the city gate by the river, gathered together for a prayer meeting. Their reputation for prayer drew Paul and Silas and Timothy to them.

We know that Lydia, a Gentile, worshipped God. However, it was not until Paul arrived that she heard the story of Jesus. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message, she was baptized, and immediately invited Paul and his friends to her house for prayer and preaching.   

I am about to chase a holy rabbit trail here, so bear with me. I was fascinated by Mrs. Deen’s description of the derivation of the purple dye: “The purple was made from the juice of a certain shellfish and was perfectly white while still in the veins of the fish, but when exposed to the rays of the sun took on many hues, ranging all the way from purple blues to crimson.” Expand that thought with this online description of the significance of the color purple in the Exodus Temple—it is directly attributed to “the God-man, to God manifest in flesh”. Now savor this: it takes the light of the SON, Jesus, to shine on the spirit of inquiring man to manifest God in his heart. I, you, we, all believers have a purple heart!

Well, Lydia certainly fills the bill of an inquiring, idealistic, intense, impassioned, infectious individual in my mind. The question here becomes, do I? Do I aspire to be so? Lest I stumble at this point on effort, I am reminded that I am already God’s work of art, created as such in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10).

Sweet Jesus, move your hand on my chalkboard this year. May I thrive on intimacy, forge integrity, take the initiative, and seek wise counsel, all with an infectious passion that displays Your glory.     

Nancy P