Intrigued by an aged and untouched picture book on the bookshelf, I flipped through an old Rhodesian history book[1] which I had collected during our seven years of living in Zimbabwe. I stopped to read about Dr. David Livingstone who was horrified by the ills of the slave trade still taking place by Muslim countries, though abolished in Western countries. While trekking through the African terrain, he would often come across scenes of weak and dying slaves shackled and left behind by traders, doing what he could to help free them.
One such frightened slave he released near Mbame in 1861 was a little boy named Chuma. Upon release, Chuma dedicated himself for the next twelve years of his life as a faithful servant to Livingstone until the explorer died. Chuma sailed across the Indian Ocean with Livingstone in 1864, marched beside him through the bush on his exploration journeys, carried the sick and near dead Livingstone through swamps and flooded rivers, built a hut for him to rest at Chitambo in 1873, found Livingstone dead kneeling beside his bed, embalmed his body and carried his corpse at great risk from the African interior to the east coast, attending Livingstone’s funeral at Westminster Abby in England.
Chuma’s absolute devotion to Livingstone was admirable, selfless and unshakeable. But why? Surely Livingstone had freed many slaves and Chuma was just one more. So why would Chuma have responded in this way? Was it because he shared Livingstone’s vision that traveling amongst the various tribes rather than being stationed at a mission would be a more effective means of evangelism? Was it because Chuma believed in Livingstone’s exploration mission and the impact that it would have on history? Was it because Chuma saw the scientific value of categorizing unknown plants, mapping interior routes through Africa, or opening economic commerce and civilization? It is doubtful Chuma could have fully understood or grasped the immense impact that Livingstone’s journeys would have on Africa and the world. Then why? Why would Chuma show such unrelenting dedication to Livingstone?
Similarly, an unnamed woman showed absolute devotion to Jesus which was bold, selfless and insistent. The sinful woman of Luke 7 came to where Jesus was dining with the Pharisees. Standing at his feet, her tears copiously dripped down on Jesus’s feet as she wiped the moisture away with her hair, anointed his feet with expensive oil whilst endlessly kissing them. What loving devotion she showed Jesus! But why? Did she share Jesus’s vision and mission to the world? Did she believe in Jesus’s ministry of healing the sick and diseased? Did she recognize the value of correcting the hypocritical religious leaders? It is doubtful the woman could have fully understood or grasped the extent of Jesus’s mission to die for the sinful world, bring about the earthly inauguration of God’s kingdom, and the immense impact Jesus’s life would forever have upon humanity. Then why? Why would the sinful woman show such unrelenting dedication to Jesus? For none of the other followers or Pharisees present at the meal were showing that same piety.
Jesus explained, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little (Luke 7:47 NET).” The sinful woman knew first-hand the extent of her wickedness and sin, the depths in which Jesus’ undeserving forgiveness had to reach in order to rescue her, and the fate she was certainly due if Jesus had not redeemed her. No expense could ever pay, no amount of gratitude could ever convey, no amount of tears could ever express, for the woman owed Jesus her very life!
Like the sinful woman, Chuma realized he owed Livingstone his very life too. For without the help and release that the explorer gave him, he would have been permanently enslaved or, even worse, dead. Having been brought from death to life, Chuma realized he had been undeservingly rescued and, in appreciation for a debt he could never repay or thanks he could never fully express, his life now fully and wholly belonged to his rescuer.
1 Peter 1:18–19 expresses the reality of the depths from which Jesus rescued us and the expense of the rescue mission, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” The way of life we inherited from our ancestors has no use or any purpose to profit us anything! In fact, we’ve inherited Adam’s sinful nature passed down generation upon generation. Yet, Christ viewed the state of our empty lives and saw something else—his desired creation that he would fill for his use and purpose. Christ’s currency for this desired purchase was more valuable and costly, most rare and precious, of the finest of all minerals—his very own life’s blood. In light of this reality, how should we live? Verses 18–19 is actually the reason Peter gives for how he calls us to live in vs 17—“live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” (1 Pet. 1:17b). We are not to live how everyone else selfishly lives, for we have been redeemed!
Don’t I realize that once purchased, this life does not belong to me anymore, but it belongs fully and wholly to God, my Owner? For I have been bought from the auction block of sin’s slavery; purchased off the shelf of self-destruction; adopted as wanted from the gang of rebels; picked up as valuable from the rubbish heap destined for fire? Don’t I realize that the cost of my purchase is more exorbitant than the most expensive perfume––the precious blood of God’s perfect, sacrificial, one and only Son? For the Purchaser saw something of value in me and paid the highest price––for me to be his and for him to be mine. Don’t I realize that I do not get to keep my life and expect it to be redeemed; get to live my life in unholy ways and expect it to be sanctified; get to wander off and expect to be found; get to live of this world and expect to spend eternity in another?
I belong to the Lord. I am not my own.[2] My time is his, my money is his, my schedule is his, my children are his, my possessions are his, my dreams are his, my ambitions are his, my accomplishments are his, my security is his, my future is his, my very life is his. For I am Chuma and the Jesus is my Livingstone; I am the sinful woman and he is my Lord, the forgiver and purchaser of my soul.
[1] T. W. Baxter and R. W. S. Turner, Rhodesian Epic (Cape Town: Howard Timmins, 1966).
[2] Keith and Kristyn Getty, Skye Peterson, and The Getty Girls, I Am Not My Own, song, 2023, https://www.gettymusic.com/notmyown.