Published in Reader’s Digest magazine, February 1988
Condensed from Woman’s Day by Patricia McGerr
When I sailed to Kiniwata, an island in the Pacific, I took along a notebook. After I got back it was filled with descriptions of flora and fauna, native customs and costume. But the only note that still interests me is the one that says: “Johnny Lingo gave eight cows to Sarita’s father.” And I don’t need to have it in writing. I’m reminded of it every time I see a woman belittling her husband or a wife withering under her husband’s scorn. I want to say to them, “You should know why Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for his wife.”
Johnny Lingo wasn’t exactly his name. But that’s what Shenkin, the manager of the guest house on Kiniwata, called him. Shenkin was from Chicago and had a habit of Americanizing the names of the islanders. But Johnny was mentioned by many people in many connections. If I wanted to spend a few days on the neighboring island of Nurabandi, Johnny Lingo could put me up. If I wanted to fish, he could show me where the biting was best. If it was pearls I sought, he would bring the best buys. The people of Kiniwata all spoke highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet when they spoke they smiled, and the smiles were slightly mocking.
“Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want and let him do the bargaining,” advised Shenkin. “Johnny knows how to make a deal.”
“Johnny Lingo!” A boy seated nearby hooted the name and rocked with laughter.
“What goes on?” I demanded. “Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then breaks up. Let me in on the joke.”
“Oh, the people like to laugh,” Shenkin said, shrugging. “Johnny’s the brightest, the strongest young man in the islands, And for his age, the richest.”
“But if he’s all you say, what is there to laugh about?”
“Only one thing. Five months ago, at fall festival, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!”
I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair-to-middling wife, four or five a highly satisfactory one.
“Good Lord!” I said, “Eight cows! She must have beauty that takes your breath away.”
“She’s not ugly,” he conceded, and smiled a little. “But the kindest could only call Sarita plain. Sam Karoo, her father, was afraid she’d be left on his hands.”
“But then he got eight cows for her? Isn’t that extraordinary?”
“Never been paid before.”
“Yet you call Johnny’s wife plain?”
“I said it would be kindness to call her plain. She was skinny. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow.”
“Well,” I said, “I guess there’s just no accounting for love.”
“True enough,” agreed the man. “And that’s why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact that the sharpest trader in the islands was bested by dull old Sam Karoo.”
“But how?”
“No one knows and everyone wonders. All the cousins were urging Sam to ask for three cows and hold out for two until he was sure Johnny’d pay only one. Then Johnny came to Sam Karoo and said, ‘Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.’”
“Eight cows,” I murmured. “I’d like to meet this Johnny Lingo.”
I wanted fish. I wanted pearls. So the next afternoon I beached my boat at Nurabandi. And I noticed as I asked directions to Johnny’s house that his name brought no sly smile to the lips of his fellow Nurabandians. And when I met the slim, serious young man, when he welcomed me with grace to his home, I was glad that from his own people he had respect unmingled with mockery. We sat in his house and talked. Then he asked, “You come here from Kiniwata?”
“Yes.”
“They speak of me on that island?”
“They say there’s nothing I might want they you can’t help me get.”
He smiled gently. “My wife is from Kiniwata.”
“Yes, I know.”
“They speak of her?”
“A little.”
“What do they say?”
“Why, just…” The question caught me off balance. “They told me you were married at festival time.”
“Nothing more?” The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.
“They also say the marriage settlement was eight cows.” I paused. “They wonder why.”
“They ask that?” His eyes lightened with pleasure. “Everyone in Kiniwata knows about the eight cows?”
I nodded.
“And in Nurabandi everyone knows it too.” His chest expanded with satisfaction. “Always and forever, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita.”
So that’s the answer, I thought: vanity.
And then I saw her. I watched her enter the room to place flowers on the table. She stood still a moment to smile at the young man beside me. Then she went swiftly out again. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin the sparkle of her eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right.
I turned back to Johnny Lingo and found him looking at me.
“You admire her?” he murmured.
“She … she’s glorious. But she’s not Sarita from Kiniwata,” I said.
“There’s only one Sarita. Perhaps she does not look the way they say she looked in Kiniwata.”
“She doesn’t. I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo.”
“You think eight cows were too many?” A smile slid over his lips.
“No. But how can she be so different?”
“Do you ever think,” he asked, “what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband has settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? And then later, when the women talk, they boast of what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows, another maybe six. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one or two? This could not happen to my Sarita.”
“Then you did this just to make your wife happy?”
“I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes. But I wanted more than that. You say she is different This is true. Many things can change a woman. Things that happen inside, things that happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks about herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows she is worth more than any other woman in the islands.”
“Then you wanted -”
“I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman.”
“But —” I was close to understanding.
“But,” he finished softly, “I wanted an eight-cow wife.”
Your Identity in Christ is Better than an Eight-Cow Wife!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come … For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5: 17, 21 ESV
To clarify, on the cross God made Jesus to be sin – even though Jesus had never sinned – so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God.
God paid the ultimate price to reconcile our relationship with Him. He gave up His Son, Jesus, to die for us. If you have accepted His offer of salvation, in His eyes you are perfect!
Our sinful nature prevented us from having a relationship with God so He paid the price to restore that relationship.
When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus. Think about that. Can you imagine loving someone so much that you are willing to send your son to die for that person? God did that for us. He did that for you. He loved each of you that much.
In his book, Identity Theft, pastor Duane Sheriff says that “true Christianity is not a religion at all. It’s a marriage relationship. A believer enters into an intimate relationship with God. It is a wholehearted adoration of Him as a person. It is a receiving of His love and believing what He has said and done on our behalf.”
We have a choice!
Jesus died for us all, but we are free to accept or reject what He’s done.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8 ESV
Salvation is not automatic – we must choose Christ. We must choose the gift of salvation.
For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Romans 10:10 NLT
Grace is what God has done for us. Faith is our response.
Do you know who you are in Christ?
How do you check your physical appearance? You look in a mirror.
What if you want to know what your spirit looks like? You look in the Word of God.
By living in God, love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgment, because all that Jesus now is, so are we in this world.
1John 4:17 TPT
Who is Jesus now?
- King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev 19:16)
- He is our Champion (Isaiah 42:13)
- He is seated in Heaven at the right hand of God, the Father (Colossians 3:1)
Who are we in Christ?
- Sons and daughters of the most-high God (Ephesians 1:5)
- Victorious over Satan (James 4:7 )
- Carrier of the King of Glory (Colossians 1:27)
- Holy and perfect before God (1Cor 6:11)
now you have been purified from sin, made holy, and given a perfect standing before God—all because of the power of the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and through our union with the Spirit of our God. TPT
But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. NLT
- Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19)
- We have an abundance for every good work (2 Cor 9:8)
- Unstoppable – yes, you are unstoppable!
the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. (Phil 4:13 TPT )
I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. ESV
Before Sarita married Johnny, she had a low opinion of herself. When she understood how much he valued her, she was transformed. When you understand how much God loves you, how much He values you, who you are in Christ – your life will be transformed.
God paid the ultimate price to reconcile our relationship with Him. He gave up His Son, Jesus, to die for us. If you have accepted His offer of salvation, in His eyes you are perfect!
Recap
- Our sinful nature prevented us from having a relationship with God, so He paid the price to restore that relationship.
- Jesus died for us all, but we have a choice – we are free to accept or reject what He’s done.
- Do you know who you are in Christ? Sons and daughters of God? Victorious? Holy? That’s how God sees you.
Take Action!
I encourage you to spend time in the Word to learn who you are in Christ. By soaking in His Word, you will be transformed.
- Romans 10:9-10 says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
- If you would like to receive salvation, please pray this prayer:
Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you died and rose from the dead. Thank you for saving me. Amen.
- If you would like to receive the Holy Spirit, please pray this prayer:
Father, I recognize my need for Your power to live this new life. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. By faith, I receive it right now! Thank you for baptizing me! Holy Spirit, You are welcome in my life! Amen.
My prayer for you (Ephesians 3:16- 21 TPT)
I pray that God would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.
Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.
Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!
Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.
Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen!
Yes, I still have the actual magazine article from 1988. 🙂