Philippians 4:8 (ESV) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Psalm 101:3-4 (NKJV) “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.”

To say the very least, I have never been a computer, “Geek!” After twenty-two years of owning and using a computer nearly every day; and even though I am now using a “state-of-the-art” laptop, I am still pretty much of a, “point and click” kind of guy. But, I have remembered a very important lesson that I was taught early on about working with computers: “Garbage In, Garbage Out!”

In the computing world, GIGO simply means that if I put the wrong information into my work, I am going to get wrong information out of my work. Simple. In computing, that is!

GIGO is not quite so simple in living the Christian life! The principle is clearly true: if we take “Garbage” into our minds, we are going quickly become garbage thinking and garbage living people!

We live today in a world that is saturated in its own filth! I could write pages and pages about the intellectual and moral garbage that the present American culture considers to be art and entertainment, but, that is not the point of this post. The point of this post is that if a person – including a Christian person – fills their mind with this rubbish, they should not expect to have a head full of beautiful and God-honoring thoughts.

This is a challenge for many Christians, including me, as we work our way through this sewer of depraved culture we call, “the real world.” Yes, we are called to be “in” the world, but we are not called to imbibe the world! Christians have to be in the world, (we are, in fact, commanded to go into the world) but we do not have to allow, “the world” to be in us!

So, the question is: how do we go out every day into this godless and immoral culture and yet keep it from saturating our thinking and living? Simple!

We need a strong offense! It is found in God’s Word! Philippians 4:8 (ESV) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Proactively fill your mind with the Word of God, the things of God, and with thanksgivings to God! Read the Bible, meditate on the Bible, and memorize parts of the Bible!

We need a strong defense! It is found in God’s Word! “Psalm 101:3-4 (NKJV) “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.”

Stop watching and listening to godless junk! Stop focusing on and thinking about those things that dishonor God and damage your life!

Who knows… maybe Christians can redefine GIGO to mean, “God In, Glory Out!”