BIGGEST LOSER

            One of my three favorite reality TV shows is The Biggest Loser. I didn't discover it until season 3, when I readily got hooked. It is now season 14, and I have faithfully watched each season. 

            I am awed by the depth and breadth of determination and dedication it takes for these contestants to drop these tremendous amounts of weight. I would be lying if I said I understand what it feels like. I do not. Every human has something he or she struggles with on a personal level. My thorn in the flesh does not happen to be weight. 

            But my admiration is fathoms deep for the way these people have broken their bondage to over-eating and under-exercising. I will never forget Erik, the winner that season I started watching, who lost 214 pounds, from a starting weight of 407 down to 193. He was barely recognizable at the final weigh-in. I love the big reveals at the end where they all return to show off their transformed bodies---and lives.

            I think what makes me such a cheerleader of Biggest Loser is the fact that these competitors “get it.” It is not just about squeezing into a size 6 dress or a pair of 32 waist Dockers. It is about being able to go out and play basketball with their sons, or have the energy to get down on the floor to play with their grandbabies, or to simply be alive in years to come to walk their daughters down the aisle. They know they are saving their lives, not just improving their images and lowering their LDL.

            All that said, at the end of each season, I find myself ruminating about these “big losers” and remind myself that in reality-life, as opposed to reality-show, the true “biggest losers” are those who do not know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. They are lost spiritually, lost eternally. They have no hope for an eternity that is promised to be more magnificent than anyone can imagine. A place where everyone will be in perfect health.

            These determined contestants are winners at losing weight, but unless they know Jesus as their savior, they are losers at the only goal in this life that is worth striving for. Salvation. The assurance of heaven when we die.

            I never know who is or is not a Christian on this show, but I know that any who are would tell us that they have already won the big prize long before the final weigh-in proclaimed the big winner.