GIGO

Luke 19:10 (NLT)
And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost.

GIGO is an old data processing acronym in the 1970s' or 1980s' that stands for "Garbage In Garbage Out". It means that the quality of any information that can be derived by the computer is as good as the quality of the data that is put into it

I much prefer to define GIGO as "Good Input Good Output".

In much the same way, this phrase I first heard expressed by a Singaporean pastor, describes how our lives can be shaped by what we put into our lives and that always begin with what we believe in;

"Right Believing produces Right Living".

Many of us want to live right, that is, right with God, right with our family and love ones, right with friends and right with those we work with or encounter everyday. To have the right living, don't we have the belief that we need to do the right things, set the right examples, have the right connections and work hard to provide the right things for our love ones. However, do you find that in our concern with right living, it makes us focus more and more on ourselves and the things we struggle with that we lose focus on those who are really important in our lives and ending up not living right.

One of the stories in the Bible that best provide an example for this life's motto is the story of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector in Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus is a rich man hated and shunned by the people of Jericho, seen as a sinner by his fellow Jew and a collaborator with the oppressive Romans.

Yet Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus home. Here is where the two opposites meet.  The "chief of sinners" and the "Chief of Love". In the brief time spent with Jesus, who without accusations, condemnation or judgment, but instead showed Zacchaeus, grace and honour by spending time with him, brought about such a transformation that no man would have expected of him. He not only gave half his wealth to the poor, but to those he overcharge their taxes, he gave them back four times the amount and this, according to the Jewish law (Exod 22:1; Num 5:6) was twice the restitution required of him.

Salvation has come not just to Zacchaeus but also to his house (Luke 19:9), that is, to all the members of his household. The Greek word for salvation is "sozo" which also means to prosper, preserve, heal and make whole.

This is the main message of the Gospel - "And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost." (Luke 19:10)

Find out who Christ is, what He has done for you and what you have in Him. Believe Him! This believing will produce in you the right living.

Consider Luke6:43-45 (NLT) which is part of "The Beatitudes" teaching of Jesus

43 "A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit.
44 A tree is identified by the kind of fruit it produces. Figs never grow on thornbushes or grapes on bramble bushes.
45 A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say.