十二月十日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1210.mp3″]
经文: 主就开导她的心。（使徒行传十六：14）
吕底亚的转变是发生在上帝所安排的环境中。她是在推雅推喇城卖紫色布疋的人，却刚好来到腓立比，正赶上保罗讲道的时刻。上帝的安排，就是恩典的助手，引导她来到恰当的地点。恩典预备了她的心来领受祝福。虽尚未认识救主，但由于她是犹太人，早已了解许多真理，而这正成为她认识耶稣的踏脚石。在安息日，她来到一个祷告的地方，在该处祷告蒙垂听。我们虽不在上帝的殿中，但祂一样可以祝福我门，尤其是当我们与众圣徒相交时，更有充份理由期待祂会祝福。请注意这话：“主开导她的心。”她并不是自己把心门打开。并不是她的祷告作成这事，也不是保罗所作成的。主亲身开导人的心去接受那能赐我们心灵平安的事。祂是人人的主，因为人心是祂造的。顺服是证明人心已开启的第一个外证。吕底亚一信耶稣就领了洗。当上帝的儿女愿意接受祂的命令时，虽然这命令于人的救恩并非必要的，而且是因为害怕定罪之自私心态而被迫接受的。然而这仍是谦卑破碎之心的甜美记号。吕底亚的领洗是领受的单纯表现，也是与她的主相交的行动。第二个证据是爱，显明在她对使徒的感恩行动上。对圣徒的爱常是真正转变的记号。那些不为基督、不为祂的教会工作的人，实在难以证明他们有敞开的心。主啊，给我一颗向祢开放的心。
Evening, December 10
Scripture: “Whose heart the Lord opened.”(Acts 16:14)
In Lydia’s conversion there are many points of interest. It was brought about by providential circumstances. She was a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, but just at the right time for hearing Paul we find her at Philippi; providence, which is the handmaid of grace, led her to the right spot. Again, grace was preparing her soul for the blessing－grace preparing for grace. She did not know the Saviour, but as a Jewess, she knew many truths which were excellent stepping-stones to a knowledge of Jesus. Her conversion took place in the use of the means. On the Sabbath she went when prayer was wont to be made, and there prayer was heard. Never neglect the means of grace; God may bless us when we are not in his house, but we have the greater reason to hope that he will when we are in communion with his saints. Observe the words, “Whose heart the Lord opened.” She did not open her own heart. Her prayers did not do it; Paul did not do it. The Lord himself must open the heart, to receive the things which make for our peace. He alone can put the key into the hole of the door and open it, and get admittance for himself. He is the heart’s master as he is the heart’s maker. The first outward evidence of the opened heart was obedience. As soon as Lydia had believed in Jesus, she was baptized. It is a sweet sign of a humble and broken heart, when the child of God is willing to obey a command which is not essential to his salvation, which is not forced upon him by a selfish fear of condemnation, but is a simple act of obedience and of communion with his Master. The next evidence was love, manifesting itself in acts of grateful kindness to the apostles. Love to the saints has ever been a mark of the true convert. Those who do nothing for Christ or his church, give but sorry evidence of an “opened” heart. Lord, evermore give me an opened heart.
