Weight loss gurus sell their wares to us and then set us up for failure because they ask us to place our hope in their products. “I have this 8-point system that will cause you to effortlessly take off the pounds!” they say. “This miracle gizmo will transform your life” they say. They ask you to place your faith in their book, widget, system, or pill for three easy payments of $19.95 plus S&H. They actually sell you on your desires- your own fantasy of thinner thighs, happiness, freedom, a relationship- whatever your currency is.
We all know how the song goes. We put our money down, get the miracle thing, put in an earnest effort, not get the results we want (or stop getting them), throw the miracle thing away, and sit in hopelessness. Our failure just proves the longstanding belief to ourselves: “It is hopeless that my weight struggle will ever be different”.
The problem is that we’ve put our hope in the wrong thing. The exchange we *think* we’ve made is incorrect. We think we have exchanged money for a solution that will magically provide us results. I know you know this. How many random pieces of fitness equipment have you purchased over the years that end up being very expensive towel racks? None of us buys a dishwasher, plugs it in and expects our dishes will magically be clean. Yet we do this with weight loss schemes and gadgets.
The problem is that we are placing hope in the system or product rather than our own choices and behaviours.
Let me put it another way. The thing that will actually change your weight is probably the thing you really don’t want to do. We want to have it both ways. We want to have a trim and healthy body even though we have a way of life that does not lead to a trim and healthy body. We are not willing to drink the cup, so to speak; we rebel against the notion of paying the price demanded.
Jesus Christ went through something similar. Human beings had a major sin problem and Jesus knew that HE was to be the sacrificial lamb, anointed to die for them. He knew that everything he did in life was leading to that moment when he would be scorned and nailed to a cross for the sins of the world (yikes!). When the evening came for him to face this excruciating ordeal, he kind of choked. There’s no other way to say it. He started to really freak out (I’m not lying- check out Matthew 26:38-39).
He asked that the cup be taken from him. “Please don’t make me go through with this”, he begged. The trouble was that this was the only way. The only viable solution sat on the other side of his painful death. Not only that, but his exaltation as eternal King would have been impossible had he walked away. Consider what Paul says about it:
He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name above all names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:8-11
Jesus earned his spot in the universe.
But how does our seemingly insignificant weight loss battle compare to the the salvation of the world? Can I really equate our earthly struggle with a post-Christmas muffin-top to Christ’s conquering of death on a cross?
I think we can. In fact, I think Jesus’ death holds the key to how we might overcome ourselves for the greater good.
We like to put our hope in the products we buy and then our hopes are dashed because they don’t work. The problem is that NO products work. Only we do. Jesus wanted the cup to be taken from him and so do we. We don’t want to change our relationship with food. We don’t want to make permanent changes to the way we indulge. We don’t want to get our butt off the couch for the rest of our life.
It’s been said that at breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is truly invested.
We all want to be the chicken. We want to throw a few dollars at the problem and hope the problem goes away. Can you imagine if Jesus said, “God, instead of dying on a cross what if I make a really special sin offering? I will bring you the best lamb I can find and sacrifice it on the alter for you”? But there was no other way.
And there’s no other way for you, either.
You are the sacrifice. You have to change. This is not something you can outsource. You have to do the work and deny yourself and pick up your own cross. You do. Not some rich guru. Until now you were placing your hope in someone else’s lie to you, but now you know the truth: it has to be a permanent change that you make.
The good news is that if you do the good you know you ought to do you will not miss the mark. I promise. You will be lifted up in due time, just as Jesus was. You will be resurrected from the grave, your new self will emerge from the tomb (and I hope you realize that I am not just talking about weight anymore…).
Jesus said about his death, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). You are not going to get the intended result you are hoping for unless you lay down your life; you must sacrifice the “you” that you’ve held onto until now.
These words will not likely sell many books, gadgets, or pills. But my hope is that they will help you place your hope in the right place: in yourself as the necessary sacrifice and in God who will enable your new self to emerge.
Best part to me…You have to change.