So I know that I am late in grasping the phenomenon of the television show The Biggest Loser (the finale was last night). But having watched just a few episodes, I wanted to share some interesting spiritual connections. As you may know it is a reality show where people who are dangerously overweight, with professional medical, nutrition and fitness help, compete to lose the most amount of weight – thus the bigger loser (of weight).
Well, in order for this to work, I need you to switch weight for sin. In other words, if the contestants on the show have serious weight problems – I want us for this discussion’s sake to imagine what sin makes us look like on the inside. Both sin and weight can have devastating effects on our lives – internal and externally.
For example, Psalm 32 tells us about the effect of sin on us internally, “When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans. The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up (The Message).”
On the show, people acknowledge that there is a serious problem and that it is time to change. The reasons often given are improved health, overcoming the past, or being a good example for their kids.
How is this different from sin? They’re no different – with possibly the exception that sin can be easier to hide (for a while).
The show is about the journey of the participants to change their lives – to make a real, actual transformation. It’s visible as they lose the weight. Jillian and Bob, the trainers, are part counselors, part drill sergeants, but they’re always focused on one thing – transformation. Through dieting, exercise, and reflection; owning and trying to cease negativity about themselves; and getting to the core of related issues, these people push and are pushed and challenged.
How is this different from the way Christianity and churches often operate? Unfortunately, it’s very different. Here’s how… (And remember, we’re switching the very visible issue of weight for the often less-visible issue of sin in our lives.)
For example, churches often don’t take the problem (sin) very seriously out of a desire to not offend anyone. In terms of the show, it would be like having contestants who all weigh 400 pounds and talking about their cars or their hair or just giving them different outfits – anything else but the actual situation. Listen, if we don’t talk about and take sin seriously, it will destroy people and churches – as it has already. Also, if we don’t take sin seriously, there’s no need for a savior; Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross. Please hear me – if there is no sin, there is no grace – in theory or in real life.
Now it doesn’t mean we dwell on the sins – because once confessed, God remembers them no more. Again, Psalm 32, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Gone. Done. But how many of us carry around sin as if it were 400 pounds of weight – afraid to confess it to God out of guilt or pride as well as not being able to talk to others about it either. It is a silent killer.
Now, on the show, even when trainers Bob and Jillian are hard on contestants, there is little to no judgment – their focus is on transformation. And even though competitors, other contestants are rarely judgmental. Rather, they are encouraging. It creates an encouraging, authentic atmosphere where transformation is fostered.
Unfortunately, churches and Christians, usually because they don’t want to face their own sins, often focus on others’ sins and thereby create unsafe, judgmental atmospheres. Authentic confession is just not going to be possible there.
Guess what else won’t be possible there? Well, if no one is a sinner and we’re all “good people,” and if there actually are any sinners, but they can’t be honest about it – there will be no grace, growth or transformation. I mean, there is no need for them in that scenario. It sounds comical when I re-read it, but that is how many churches are operating.
On the show, weight loss and progress are met with celebration and the encouragement to do more. The amount of weight loss and progress determines winners for the show. But I can see how Jillian and Bob are encouraging of anyone who is trying – whether they win the show or not. Jesus talked about those who battle for new life, “Count on it – there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue (Luke 15:7, The Message).”
In churches, are growth and transformation celebrated? It’s kind of hard to when we’re pretending that it’s not necessary 😉 So that’s why churches often start to take too much pride in other things that are nice but aren’t central to the cross and to grace. There is a great book on this by Richard Stearns called, The Hole In Our Gospel.
Because the central thing is becoming more like Christ. We’re called to produce fruit in our lives and for the Kingdom. Christianity is, by its very nature, at its core, transformational – lost to found, hurt to healed, weak to strong, blind to seeing, sinful to forgiven, dead to alive and many others. Anywhere it is staying the same by choice or lack of effort – it is dying.
We need to improve at being a like Jillian and Bob by challenging people (including ourselves) to lovingly, fearlessly face sinfulness, embrace grace for themselves and others, and grow and transform closer to God’s best for us. After all, “Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new (2 Corinthians 5:17, The Message).”
Churches should be the places where the “biggest sinners” are welcomed, loved and grace-fully transformed. It’s exactly what Jesus did when he dwelled among us in the flesh. And you and I know, people in our families, communities, nation and world are crying out for help – crying out for a new start!
The most inspiring, touching stories of transformation and new life should come, not from a reality television show, but from communities of Christians who understand and acknowledge they are the biggest sinners and therefore the biggest winners (of grace), and in light and joy of that grace, radically love one another, and seek out others to radically love and restore.
Amen.
Discussion Questions
- What is the state of your spiritual health? What are some ways to effectively measure it in terms of your relationship with God (in other words, not just using “activities.”)
- What are some areas that need transformation and growth? What can you do about them?
- If you belong to a church, what is the approach to transformation there? How is that working?
- Do you need a new start or second chance today? Please feel free to email or contact me to talk about it more
Rev. Christopher B. Wolf
Isaiah 42:7
Christopher B. Wolf is the author of Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs (2007) and the forthcoming, With You: Every Step of the Way (2011).
“It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point.” N.T. Wright
Living Water 