“G.I.G.O.”
Do you know what the above acronym stands for? If you are computer literate, you might know that GIGO stands for “garbage in, garbage out.” It is used by computer programmers when they are writing software programs. The idea is basically that you are going to get out of a computer what you put into it; the computer is only going to run a program if you tell it what program to run and how to run it. I know that it sometimes may seem like computers have a mind of their own. Lord knows I have had many long and furious discussions with my computer when it doesn’t do what I want it to. But the fact is that the computer only does what you tell it to. Thus the idea of GIGO. If you enter programs into a computer, it will run those programs. But if all you put into the computer is garbage, all you get out of the computer will be garbage.
The same concept applies very well to the human mind. What you concentrate on and allow to enter into your life is what is eventually going to start coming out of your life. Someone once said, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.” If all you think about all day long is how much stress you have in your life, then that is going to start manifesting itself in your actions even when you don’t feel stressed! If you all you think about all day long is how miserable your job is, that is going to start spilling over into your home and family life. On the other hand, if you make an intentional effort to start making a habit of thinking about things that are pure and honorable and trustworthy; if the majority of your thoughts are dominated by these things, you cannot help but have those same qualities shine forth in your life!
But you might say, “Well that’s all well and good, Pastor but wake up and join the real world! There are so many stressors in this world! There are so many messages bombarding our brains that are filled with things that are vile, false, disgraceful, corrupt, ugly, and just plain mean. I can’t help that!” And I would agree with you 100%. But there is a difference between hearing something and paying attention to it. As someone once said, “You can’t prevent a bird from flying around your head, but you can prevent it from building a nest in your hair.”
Because of what God has done for us in and through the person of Jesus Christ, we know that heaven awaits us. With that in mind, the sinful messages of this world should not be the messages that take in. The messages that we take in need to be the messages of God that will sustain us in this hostile environment. Thus when we concentrate and dwell upon those messages, the messages of justice and honor and loveliness and purity, we are fortified and strengthened and made at peace in the midst of the salvo of impurity and anger that this world puts out.
Therefore, when we come across another human being trying to make their way in this world, we can help them and love them, not out of the dwindling resources of our own lives that already feel stressed to the limit of more than we can bear, but rather out of the abundance of God’s bountiful mercy and grace because that is the well that you have been drawing from for quite some time.
The choice and the question before you is this: to what will you give your attention?
There is a Native American story about a battle going on inside of you at this very moment. There is a great battle that rages inside you. One side is a soaring eagle. Everything the eagle stands for is good and true and beautiful. It soars above the clouds. Even though it dips down into the valleys, it lays its eggs on the mountain tops. The other side is a howling wolf. And that raging, howling wolf represents the worst that is in you. It eats upon your downfalls and justifies itself by its presence in the pack. And that eagle and wolf are battling inside of you every moment of every day. Who wins this great battle? The one that you feed.