VALUE: “FORMULA 4 SUCCESS”
ACTIVITY: INTRO SESSION - “GIGO” (A)
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE: GENESIS 1:1 “IN THE BEGINNING GOD….”
“Garbage In, Garbage Out”
“Good In, Good Out”,
God In, God Out”
When I was in college, my computer teacher introduced me to the acronym GIGO. It stands for “Garbage In—
Garbage Out.” She stressed to us the importance of not filling our computer’s storage with corrupt files. After all,
what we put into the computer would eventually come out (or, as I discovered too many times to count, bad files
would cause my computer to crash).
As an athlete, I got the same talk from my coaches. “If you fill your body with junk, that’s exactly what will come
out. Junk or poor performance comes on the field. Got it?” I got it, especially since I had heard basically the
same litany from my mom as I was growing up: “If you eat junk food, that’s how you’re going to feel—like junk.
What you put into your body will make all the difference in what you get out of it.”
But the concept of GIGO is even more powerful and life changing when you apply it to your heart. What’s in your
heart’s well will always come up in the bucket.
“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life”. Proverbs 4:23
I love this wise saying from the book of Proverbs, because it reminds me to guard my heart from the garbage
that otherwise can make its way in. If you squeeze a tube of toothpaste, what comes out? Mustard? No
toothpaste, because that’s what was put in the tube. That means if you put garbage in your heart—jealousy,
lying, degrading images, anger, competitiveness, etc.—that’s exactly what will come out. And just as garbage in
real life can get stinky, so can your attitudes and actions. I like to think about G.I.G.O. not as Garbage In,
Garbage Out but rather as God In, God Out. If you are putting God into our heart every day, thinking of Him,
studying His Word, talking about Him with others, then God will come out. It is important to remember to put
God first in all we do: Genesis: 1 “In the beginning God…”
DAILY WORKOUT:
The last time you were squeezed, what came out? God or garbage? Why? What can you do
the next time you have the choice of whether to allow the garbage in or God in?
Pass It On - For additional study, read: “The Vine and Its Branches” John 15:1-16, James 1:2–4