Garbage in, garbage out …

The most profound of truths are best understood when distilled to a simple and concise message. After all, we human beings are already proficient at making things more difficult and complex than they need to be!

A one-liner familiar to most of us contains just such a dollop of profound truth; you’ve likely heard it stated as, “Garbage in, garbage out.”

After a minimal effort of trying to discover the original source for that phrase, I noticed a broad application of it.

Some applied the phrase to cooking, noting that if you use cheap ingredients when cooking a meal, the outcome will be a cheap product.

The truth of this popular phrase is taught in health and fitness circles: if you eat a regular diet of junk food, the result will be a lack of fitness and eventually a negative impact on your health. You cannot expect to have peak physical outcomes from a diet of junk.

The most common application of the phrase was attached to computing, with an understanding that what data you get out of a computer depends entirely on what you input into it. Poor quality data inputted, poor quality information received. Why is it so important to have clean data? If the data is not “clean” what could be the resultant outcome?

This simple, yet profound principle of “garbage in, garbage out” is seen throughout the Bible and is why there is such a strong emphasis (especially in the New Testament) for the need for our minds to be transformed. That’s because we’ve loaded our thinking with the garbage of sin, and thus, the only thing that can come out is … the garbage of sin! It’s like the story told some years ago about how the delivery boys in an area of London were all whistling out of tune. It was discovered that the bells of Westminster were off pitch and the boys had unconsciously copied them.

Just like the way the delivery boys of London copied the sound around them, we absorb into our minds the culture around us. The result? Garbage in, garbage out. The effect of this on human behavior was described in the first book of the Bible like this:

“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart,” Genesis 6:5-6.

God wants to wash us clean of all the ways we’ve polluted our minds and hearts, and input the Holy Spirit into us. By transforming our minds, God instills in us the holiness and righteousness of Christ. The result should be holiness in, holiness out.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Apostle Paul persistently addressed the need for us to be careful about what we do with our thinking? Our minds are the human equivalent of our “computer” for our lives; garbage in, garbage out, OR holiness in, holiness out.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” Romans 12:2.

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy,” Ephesians 4:21-24.

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had,” Philippians 2:5.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise,” Philippians 4:8.

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God,” Colossians 3:1-3.

What you will get out of your life depends on what you put into your mind. You cannot put the garbage of the world into your mind and get the holiness of Christ out of it. What are you filling your mind with? Are you filling it with garbage, copying the culture around you? Or have you let God transform your thinking so that as the holiness of Christ is instilled into you, the holiness of Christ is being lived out by you?

Scotty