Almost every day when I open my mailbox, I find at least one piece of junk mail. Most days I receive numerous pieces: offers for all kinds of things, catalogues I never ordered from companies I’ve never heard of, and sales flyers. Years ago, I began immediately placing those items in the trash (after checking credit cards offers to check for any personal info included).

Today’s devotion (Catching Whimsy by Bob Goff) reminded me to be equally selective in “opening” another type of message.

Every day, you and I are bombarded with messages. Information from the media, from social media, from conversations with friends/acquaintances/perfect strangers, from our own thoughts, and the like.

Just like the unwanted mail in my mailbox, many — maybe even most — of these messages are junk.

As Goff says, “If it’s not from Jesus, it’s junk.”

He’s not saying we shouldn’t talk to other people or read the newspaper or interact on social media. He’s reminding us of the importance of making sure that anything that comes into our minds lines up with Scripture and, IF it is not, ignoring it.

With all the messages flooding our brains every waking hour of every day, that can be hard. It requires focus, diligence, consistency. But when I consider how even the most innocuous message can impact my thinking and, if I’m not careful, my actions, I know that this is an action step I need to start employing.

What about you? How do you “handle” the messages that flood your mental inbox?