I will set no base or wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them who turn aside [from the right path]; it shall not grasp hold of me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil person or thing. – Psalm 101:3-4, Amplified Bible

I learned a phrase during the home computer craze of the 1980s that is still used today. The phrase is “garbage in, garbage out,” or GIGO for short. According to Wikipedia, “Garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) in the field of computer science or information and communications technology refers to the fact that computers will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data ‘garbage in’ and produce nonsensical output ‘garbage out’.” Just like “what goes up must come down” describes what will happen when you throw a rock into the air, “what goes in must come out” describes what will happen with whatever you enter into a computer.

The human brain is the most complex computer ever created. Just as man-made computers will spit out whatever has been spit in, our God-made computers will do the same. That is why it is so vitally important to guard what enters our minds! Once an image or a phrase or a philosophy is allowed to take hold in our minds, it will root in our hearts and influence our actions (Mark 7:20-21). This is why many Christians preach against various types of music, movies, books, friends, and television shows that glorify sin. They know and they understand that once we let wickedness into our minds, our minds will process that wickedness and send it to our hearts. Then our hearts will act it out in our daily behavior, which will dishonor and displease our Savior.  David understood this when he wrote Psalm 101 early in his reign. Unfortunately, he forgot it when he looked upon Bathsheba.  He let the wrong input in, and sin, pain, and death followed.

God created the human computer, and He knows that what goes in must come out. It’s time we realize the same. There is no doubt we still have some areas of our lives where we are letting garbage in. We need to stop doing so immediately and replace the inputs of refuse with inputs of righteousness.