The Biggest Loser!

I was watching The Biggest Loser (yep, its one of my favs!) the other night, and the remaining few contestants were given a hiking back pack, as they stood in front of an amazing stretch of sand dunes. Every few hundred metres they would come to a check point where a sandbag equivalent to the weight they lost on that week of the show was put in their pack. Sometimes it was a kg or 2kg, sometimes it was up over 10kg's! As they made their way through the check points their bags got heavier and heavier; the pressure increasing, the burden harder to bear! After walking up and down the sandy hills, representative of the ups and downs of life, they arrived at the final check point and felt the full force of the weight they had once carried!

The point of the challenge was to remind them of where they started, and just how far they had come. To remember the feelings, the emotions, and the choices that had got them to where they were.They made comments like 'it hurts to carry this weight around', and 'I cant believe I let it get to this'. When you lose weight bit by bit, you dont really grasp the full weight of what you have lost (some over 50kg's). Its only when you feel it all at once, that you remember the weightiness of your past. The limitations, the pain, the achy joints, the self doubt, the guilt, the fears...all from an unnecessary load they were carrying around. The thing that struck me the most, was that it was only once they had remembered the full force of their previous weight and their old way of life, that they experienced the true freedom of letting it go. The relief and joy that they felt when the bag was taken off was incredible. The burden was gone, freedom had come! They commented that they felt liberation and freedom, and that it showed them how much they never wanted to go back to the way life was. After feeling that burden, they were more determined than ever, not to put that weight back on. 

What if we were given a bag to carry. What if every sand bag in our pack represented our sin. What if we were to feel the full weight of the decisions we have made, and the things we have done? What if we grasped just for a minute, how big the burden was that Jesus carried on our behalf? Would we not also realise afresh the freedom we have been given? 

See, the trainers didn't offer to carry the packs for the contestants. They were forced to carry it themselves. But Jesus doesn't just walk along side us, he steps in and carries our pack. He carries the weight of our sin on his shoulders, and gives us the freedom that only he deserves. If we truly realised that, would we not be more determined than ever to live a life that reflected the freedom he bought us. A life full of joy, not pain and fear. A life of determination to not return to how we once were. When we are graciously forgiven time and time again, I cant help but think we fail to realise the extent of our sin, and the freedom we have from being released from it.

How would we live differently if we could catch a glimpse...to see how it felt before and after our sin was taken away. Surely it would change how we live. Thanks to Jesus, we won't ever have to fully feel the weight of our sin. Thanks to Jesus, one day we will fully feel the freedom he has bought us!

The Biggest Loser winner wont be decided tomorrow night. Its already been decided. The Biggest Loser is me. It's you! Its everyone who has experience the freedom of knowing Jesus is carrying our pack.