Merry Boxing Day !
For those who are unfamiliar with the term “Boxing Day” is the traditional British holiday name given to the day after Christmas. The name is believed to have derived from the idea of wealthy persons giving boxes or gifts to those who had served them. In more modern times it is the day when deliverers of mail, newspapers etc. might expect a gift as a reward for their services. In the liturgical calendar the day is also known as Saint Stephen’s Day in memory of the first known martyr of the Church.
Years ago when most computer users were accustomed to seeing lines of typing on the screen instead of the colorful icons the modern Apple or Windows operating systems, many of us tried some elementary computer programming in a computer language known as “Basic”. Often when making such attempts I would end up making some simple error when typing the instructions for the computer. When the program would not function properly, my friend and instructor would look at what I had done and spot my errors. His frequent comment was “GIGO.” GIGO is an acronym for “Garbage IN – Garbage OUT !” It was a simple shorthand way of saying that if you put into the computer a program with errors you cannot expect to get out of the computer any reliable useable information.
The Scriptures teach us that the same principle applies also to our spiritual lives. Experience teaches us this principle also applies to our relationships. But our deceiving enemy constantly seeks to distract us from this truth. Instead of feeding our souls and building our faith with prayer in the spirit, praise, and thanksgiving, we find ourselves filling our lives with emotional junk food or even toxic foods like false teachings or pornography. Instead of building our relationships with self sacrificing love we destroy them with self centered expectations.
Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God.
Whatever things are good and pure think about these things.
GIGO works in both directions.
Godly IN – Godly OUT !
His, thus Yours,
Stuart
His-Family 