G.I.G.O.—Have you ever heard of that before? To be honest, I hadn’t heard it until it was mentioned in a random school lecture. It can stand for three things: ‘Good In, Good Out;’‘Garbage In, Garbage Out;’ or ‘God In, God Out’.
Quick but deep self-reflection time! Which of those three best describes your lifestyle? If you were at youth group or in another Christian-like setting, you might blurt out the third just because it’s the thing to do. Seriously though, think about it. Just between you and God — what are you feeding your soul?
A little deep, huh? What do you mean music can affect my soul? What harm could violent video games or edgy TV shows cause my spiritual life? Yeah, maybe it’s not the best music I could listen to or the best thing I could be watching or doing. So what? I still go to church and all that; why is it such a big deal? Maybe those thoughts ran through your head; maybe they appall you. Personally, I used to have that exact attitude. I couldn’t have cared less about the things I watched and listened to or the words I spoke. However, without realizing it, I spiralled down like crazy.
A factor in all of this is the brokenness of our world and ourselves. In today’s society, it is really hard to find some wholesome and spiritually healthy music, movies, etc. Even some of the ‘innocent’ things usually have some underlying catch. The enemy can take something sweet and naive, or even the ‘not as bad as blank’ types of things and twist them into a trap of which you’re unaware.
I know it seems like one big conspiracy to get you off your phone. Well, it isn’t. This is about the war going on for your soul, friend. I’ll put it bluntly and honestly; if you’re depressed, then please, DON’T listen to depressing music! If you are dealing with a breakup or other relational problems, don’t constantly numb yourself with fictional relationships! Take a break from Youtube if your video history is far from uplifting or would get you in trouble if your parents saw it!
I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one person who ends up reading this thinks I’m crazy. Less than a year ago, I would’ve thought whoever wrote this was crazy too! You can trust me on this, though. This whole concept of how you spend your time and what media you take in affecting your soul is legit. Our worldly comforts and coping mechanisms can cloud our soul’s perspective, and we forget about the weight of the reality of God and His plans for our lives.
Let me get super uncomfortable for just one paragraph, okay? If any of this convicts you, please, PLEASE, do something about it. What, you want me to delete all my secular music, my Netflix account, throw away my Xbox and disconnect from my WiFi forever?! I might as well become a nun/monk! I’ve been there. I get it. Honestly though, ask God to help you. Maybe you’re in so much junk you feel disconnected from God. Maybe there’s just that one album of music you feel deep down you shouldn’t be listening to… Whatever the case, you are never too far from God to cry out for help. In fact, God is standing right in front of you. His arms are wide open just waiting for all His lost children to turn to Him rather than accepting the world’s makeshift comforts. God may convict you of some things that you really don’t want to give up. Maybe He’s asking you to just take a break from something while you press into Him. No matter how hard it is, trust Him. He’s your Father, and He knows what’s best for you. I can testify to that.
So, this may have gone a little deeper than I had first intended, but if you get anything out of this blog post, let it be this: Trust God to help you weed out unhealthy things in your life, no matter how hard it may be to let them go, and remember, “God In, God Out”. That doesn’t mean you have to go live in a monastery; just press into God and His Word rather than the world, especially when you’re confronted with pain and trials. It’s pretty hard to be the beautiful light God created you to be if you’re held down by a discouraging lifestyle.
Taking it one day at a time,
Janelle