The Biggest Losers

There are a couple of television programs that I hate to confess I have actually been watching. They are The Biggest Loser and Runway. The former is about weight challenged people in a contest. The Latter is also about weight challenged people in a contest. One is about food, the other about fashion. I think it would be interesting to combine the two: The Biggest Loser on the Runway. But that probably won't happen. In both programs someone gets the boot and others get to stay. That seems to be what is popular right now, watching people be dismissed for their failures or because other contestants view them as a threat. So maybe art does imitate life, or is it the other way around?

Anyway, I was thinking especially about The Biggest Loser, how the winners are those who struggle to lose in order to gain. Ultimately, the biggest losers win by becoming less than what they were, at least physically, which means that they gain by acheiving a better self image inwardly. That's the hope anyway. By shrinking the outer self the inner self grows in value, confidence, happiness, relationships, health and self-control. And it is a struggle, a battle, that some courageously enter into. I admire them. It is hard to get in shape and stay that way, especially since the invention of nachos.

Losing to gain is a paradox. As a Christian all kinds of scriptures come to mind that fit that paradox, but I was reading 2 Corinthians this morning where Paul talks about what a pain it is living in this world and how much trouble that can be, trouble that is accentuated by being a Christian. Being holy as God is holy in an unclean world brings its own particular losses.

Yet, he tells us that by losing, we are gaining. Our light and momentary troubles are acheiving for us an eternal weight of glory. The word for glory in Hebrew and greek carries the idea of "weight." Our troubles, in the right perspective, don't carry much weight, and will eventually just float away and leave us. But the glory of God will settle on us and be eternal. We lose, we gain.

In this world, it is true, Christians really are just a bunch of losers. And when our time comes to be voted off, then we can dance for joy, over-weight with glory!