We live in a time where reality shows have flooded the airways — everything from New Jersey Housewives to Dance Moms. So we shouldn’t be surprised when one was called The Biggest Loser. This show features overweight contestants competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight. Contestants right away find themselves in a situation which involves temptation. The temptation usually requires the contestants to gamble by eating or drinking a delicious but high calorie food in exchange for what appears to be a beneficial payoff, an example being eating a big slice of cake to win an unknown prize which in one of the episodes turned out to be an exercise bike. This competition went on for a 30 week period and at the end the “Biggest Loser” won the grand prize.
As a Christian, the “Biggest Loser” is the one who wins. That is where the victory lies.
Luke 17:33 “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will find it.”
In the Kingdom of God things seem to be upside down in comparison to the world. The freedom is found when we lose this life. Yet in the world around us it is all about winning, about being the best. How successful are you? Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the prettiest of them all… It is all about self-image.
We describe ourselves as a self-made man or a self-made woman. The libraries are filled with self-help books. There is a reason for this. It all boils down to the way we come into the world. For nine months we are secure, our every need being met, totally dependant upon our mothers. However, when we are born and that umbilical cord is cut we are out there on our own. Anyone who has had a baby knows they are not happy campers: they come out screaming. For the first time we know what it is like to be alone, helpless and fearful. But it wasn’t supposed to be that way. The same way we are connected to our moms, God intended for us to live our lives connected to him. However because Adam and Eve sinned we now come into this world separated from God.
The same security and dependence we experienced in our mother’s womb is the way we were meant to live our lives, but because of this separation what happens is we become self-centered rather than God centered. We become the center of our world. We become self-sufficient, relying on our own strength. Our security is found in the things we can control, and we begin to find our worth in superficial things.
Even after we are born again, when we are again connected to God, these patterns can still exist in our life.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The freedom lies in being the “Biggest Loser.”
He who loses his life will find it.
The key to living a victorious life is found in knowing who you are in Christ and letting go of who you used to be.
He who loses his life will find it.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed and all things are becoming new.”
Rather than being self-made, we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
However just like in the reality show “The Biggest Loser” those temptations are all around every day — those things that will give us instant gratification but are temporary.
We have to be careful we are not like Lot’s wife still looking to those things she left behind. We all know what happened to her: she was turned into a pillar of salt because she just couldn’t let go of what she left behind (Genesis 19).
We too can easily remain in that place where we are still depending on our own wisdom and our own strength guided by our own will.
However once we become a born again child of God the door has been opened to live the highest quality of life a human being can live. But to experience it you need to let go of the old and let God make you into something new.
He who loses his life will find it.