I love the show “The Biggest Loser.” If you haven’t seen it, here’s how the show works: A whole lot of contestants try to lose a whole lot of weight, and the person who loses the most weight (percentage wise) wins. I want to suggest to you that being a follower of Jesus is a bit similar to this.

A Christian is someone who lives trusting in the fact that Jesus is God, came to earth as a man, lived a faultless life, died for the sins and rebellion of all people, rose again, and returned home to heaven where he rules with his father. A Christian is also someone who, in light of all this, lives as a follower of Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus means learning to live differently, no longer for yourself and your selfish desires, but to live for Jesus. Jesus said in Mark 8:35 “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

According to Jesus, everyone who lives purely for themselves, trying to “save” their own life will eventually “lose it.” However, if you give the control of your life over to Jesus, letting Him call the shots and letting Him map out the course of your life, you will “save” your life. The secret to a joyful, exhilarating and fulfilling Christian life is to “lose” as much of yourself as you can! The Author of Hebrews encouraged us to be the biggest loser when he said these words in Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

So what things do we need to “lose?” There are many, but for the month of November at South Side I’m going to just focus on our doubt, our fear, our guilt, and our pain. The more we can “lose” these things, the more we will “win” as followers of Jesus. If you watched the Biggest Loser, you have seen the joy return to the faces of the contestants as they lost more and more weight. Being a follower of Jesus is pretty similar; the more sin we “lose,” the more we “win.”

So why do we find this so hard to do? We struggle to do this because we want to have the best of both worlds. We want Jesus because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Sometimes though, we want to hang on to some of our old ways, because they seem to bring pleasure and enjoyment in life too. We struggle to do this because we live in a world that is overweight with sin, and we struggle to do this because Satan is good at what he does.

This month at South Side I will be sharing four specific ways to become the biggest loser. However, I would encourage you to keep looking to Jesus, keep reading your Bible, keep praying to God for strength, and keep trusting that God’s ways are best ways. Doing that will lead to a joyful, exhilarating, and fulfilling life. We would love to see you and your family at South Side for worship this Sunday at 10:45! May God bless and Keep you as you seek to become “The Biggest Loser.”

In Christ,

Barry Pettit

Sr. Minister

South Side Church of Christ

www.southsidewch.com