A Taste of S.A.L.T. - "Madness" of the heart

By: Sarom Pyun

My home is filled beyond capacity at the moment. Five women are sitting around the table eating freshly steamed corn, still piping hot. My brother is on the couch next to me, doing something on his computer, and occasionally emitting a manly (?) giggle. In the living room, my uncle is talking to someone in Korea, trying to delay his re-entry into the country. Somewhere I hear my two year-old niece who I just met trying to learn how to pronounce my name. There are nine people cramped into my cozy three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home. It is, in short, a madhouse.

Our home was pristine just two days ago, after countless hours of effort on mostly my brother’s part. Yet one toddler and five additional Koreans later, it looks like we’ve been victimized by a Northridge-like quake. The once nicely Swiffered floors have gathered dust and other strange forms of stickiness (gross), the once Lysol-scented bathrooms have a strange, mothball-y smell to them, and each night the floors are covered with blankets and futon mattresses in an attempt to transform them into makeshift beds. Clutter is building upon clutter is building upon clutter is building upon…(you get the picture).

For some reason, the madness of my home has made me reflect on the “madness” of my heart. I have been reminded these past couple days of the importance of cleanliness – in my home of course, but even more importantly, in my heart. It takes but a moment for clutter to build in a home. One minute, everything could be in order, and at the blink of an eye, all could be in disarray (especially, I’ve learned these past couple days, if a toddler is involved). I’ve found that it is equally as easy for sin to enter into my life. A little thought here, a moment of impatience there, and before I know it, a small pile of sin has become a large mound somewhere in the corner of my heart. My dear brothers and sisters, as we examine the states of our hearts, may we continue to pursue holiness in all areas of our lives, obeying in response to His great grace, so that we may live in the way that He intended - as men and women who are freed from sin and alive to Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1
For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
17"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."
18"I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

1Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.