Today's Devotional

January 11, 2005

Subject:  The Biggest Loser

Mark 8:36 - "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

I was watching a Larry King Live last night and they were profiling a show called, The Biggest Loser.  You may have seen it before.  It's about a lot of overweight people being put through a rigorous regimen to see who can get the most weight off during a given time period.  Although many people lost an enormous amount of weight in a very short time period which is problematic for a health and fitness type person such as I am, my biggest problem with the show as I understand it is that, in a "survivor-like" fashion, people get voted off of the show.  What's that all about?  Is it not enough for people to simply help these people lose weight?  Where does the piece come from that says, we're going to make this an exclusive thing and pit one person or a group of people against the others?  Let's get these overweight people to battle each other in front of the world.  Wouldn't it be nice if these people were just being helped without the carnival atmosphere that TV has created?

I think everyone and in every place around the world, longs for a feeling of inclusiveness and being part of something and someone significant.  It's the concept of family that was founded before the world began.  The world today in many ways attempts to destroy that feeling of belonging.  If we are insensitive to the ways of the world, we will adapt to this mentality and begin to see all things and all people as a means to be used for our gain.  Whether it's TV executives who produce those type shows of which there are many or a homemaker who watches such.  We must contrast the ways of the world with God's design for us in this life. 

I personally find it noble that people would undertake trying to help people lose weight.  However, the biggest loser will be those who feign assisting people only to use them for their own purposes.   

Carlen