Somethings just really stick with you, don’t they?

Childhood nursery rhymes, corny dad jokes, slogans from clever advertisements, funny movie quotes… Have you caught yourself repeating any of these things?

Whenever my husband is with his brothers they start speaking a language of movie quotes that I’m unfamiliar with. Even though I haven’t seen half of these movies, I enjoy watching their camaraderie as these repeated phrases brings them all back to their childhood.

Sometimes I catch myself repeating my dad’s jokes and rhymes from childhood. For example, if someone at work were to say “I see,” I would have to finish their sentence, “says the blind man to his deaf wife as he picks up his hammer and saw.” Then there was that one time a bird pooped on my husband and I cheered, “birdy birdy in the sky drop a little white wash in my eye. Me no laugh, me no cry, I’m just glad that cows don’t fly!”

As I’m writing this, another line is circling in my mind. This one is from an old song we would sing in Sunday School- “Input, output. What goes in is what comes out.”

Parents know this to be true. That’s why we grow up with guidelines and boundaries on the shows we watch, music we listen to, and books we read. As teenagers our independence pushes back against these rules, and as adults we may convince ourselves that input no longer affects us.

If we are truly honest with ourselves, I think we all would say at some level that input still impacts our output. Because the truth is, we never outgrow temptation. If we hear constant cursing in our tv shows, those words creep into our thoughts at unexpected places. If we tune into the news too long and too often, our moods begin to cripple in fear, anger, or anxiety. If we scroll curated feeds on facebook and Instagram, we convince ourselves that our bodies and our lives aren’t good enough. If we glimpse nudity in a movie, we are tempted to turn back towards pornography.

What is your input right now?

The Bible tells us that we can change the script. Change what we focus on in order to change the output. Colossians 3:2-3 instructs us, “ Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

What happens when you change the input?

When we focus on God’s word, we renew our hope. His promises refuel our endurance.

When we pray, we renew our strength. Our strength comes from the Lord, and He is capable of handling all our worries.

When we worship, we attack temptation head on. Giving God glory weakens our enemy, and strengthens our partnership with God in the battle.

The enemy wants to isolate us, and COVID is certainly helping his mission. When we are alone, we are vulnerable. When we feel lonely, we are easily tempted. Now more than ever we need to guard our input and strengthen our output.

Let’s take off everything that is hindering us, and put on all God has given to help us.

Take off Anger, and put on gratitude.

Take off wrath and malice, and seek forgiveness and compassion.

Take off slander, and speak encouragement.

Take off the lies, and put on the truth.

How does your input impact your output? How can you improve this?

Take a moment to read and reflect on Colossians 3 here.