Restored Glory Christian Center -

The Biggest Winner!

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” -Hebrews 12:1

In 2004, NBC premiered its first installment of a show called “The Biggest Loser.” Without knowing much about it, I immediately thought the name was horrible. How dare these producers make fun of overweight people by calling them losers? But then as I watched an episode and found out that the person who loses the most weight is actually the winner, I better understood the show’s overall concept and the producers’ witty play on words.

Last week, as the ladies and I weighed-in before our workout, I thought about “The Biggest Loser” again, and the Holy Spirit plopped this little nugget into my spirit: In life, there are many weights we need to lose in order to have the abundant life God has planned for us. Then I thought about the rich young man whom Jesus instructed to sell his possessions, give to the poor, and follow Him (Matthew 19). The young man didn’t honor Jesus’ request because he (the young man) was bound by and to everything he owned. He defined himself by all of that extra weight!

Hebrews 12:1 (which follows the Hallmark of Faith, Chapter 11) admonishes us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” What I notice about this scripture is that sin is referred to separately. We are told to “lay aside every weight, AND the sin” (emphasis added). Yes, we’re supposed to get rid of the sin in our lives because sin separates us from God. However, we’re also supposed to let go of that which is not sinful but still weighty in our lives. And this is where faith in God truly emerges.

You see, eating that particular food, talking to that particular friend, going to that specific place, or watching that particular episode may not be a sin, but it may be a weight that’s keeping you from running the race God has ordained for you! Remember, the young man in Matthew 19 wasn’t sinning; he had kept all of the commandments. But the problem arose when his prosperity became a hindrance to his spiritual walk with the Lord. That’s why Jesus told him to get rid of it. Yet what the young man didn’t know is that on the other side of his obedience was one hundred times (“an hundredfold”) more than what he had, plus “everlasting life!” (Matt. 19:28).

Today, recognize that whether your weights are possessions, people, places, or pounds, you have to be willing to let go of them, knowing that the more you lose, the more you gain. For in the kingdom of God, the biggest loser is indeed the biggest winner!

Get Movin’,

Veronica Yon