Everybody has a purple.

Lydia's purple was cloth. Expensive, rare, the colour of kings. But yours might be your degree. Your title. Your company. Your bank balance. Your talent. Your name in the room.

Purple is whatever makes us feel royal on this earth.

And the question the gospel asks every one of us is simple: will you lay it down?

Because heaven does not dress in purple. Heaven dresses in white.

"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Isaiah 1:18

Think about this. On the day of His crucifixion, the soldiers mocked Jesus by putting a purple robe on Him (Mark 15:17). The King of kings wore earth's fake royalty so we could wear heaven's true one. He took our purple. He gave us white.

Lydia understood the trade. She sold purple, but when the Lord opened her heart, she laid her purple at His feet. Her house, her wealth, her influence all came under a new Owner.

Then there was the Ethiopian eunuch. A man "of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure." Acts 8:27

He managed a queen's treasury. Yet he travelled hundreds of miles, and on his way home he was reading Isaiah. With all of Candace's wealth under his hand, he still knew something was missing. He found it in Christ and went on his way rejoicing.

Earthly royalty couldnt satisfy him. Heaven's royalty did.

Now, I'm not saying dont work. We all chase our daily needs. We build, we hustle, we serve clients, we pay bills. That is not the problem.

The problem is the barn.

Jesus told of a rich man whose ground brought forth plenty. His only plan was to pull down his barns and build bigger ones. Then God said, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." Luke 12:20

Look closely. He wasnt foolish because he was rich. He was foolish because there was no room for God in his plans. Every thought was barn, barn, barn.

That is exactly what Psalm 14:1 means: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

It's not always a verbal statement. Many fools go to church. It is a state of mind. A life where God is simply not retained in the thinking (Romans 1:28). Planning, building, expanding, and God never enters the equation.

Paul gave the rich a different charge. Be "rich in good works, ready to distribute… laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 1 Timothy 6:18-19

Your purple can purchase eternal treasure. Your resources can build something that outlives you.

We all have a part to play. The doctor, the developer, the trader, the banker, the teacher. Nobody is exempt.

So what is your purple?

Lay it down. Trade it for white.

Because earthly royalty fades. Heavens royalty never does.

#Faith #Kingdom #Purpose #Eternity