Over the weekend my father-in-law and I fixed the temperature & pressure relief valve on my hot water heater. Essentially, it's the most important system of a water heater, because it relieves pressure in the tank to keep it from exploding and ending life as you know it. From time to time, a properly functioning valve will open up and let pressure out. Well...emotions work the same way. We must learn not to bottle things up, or else we'll explode. But this is not just important in our relationships with others, but also in our relationship with God. True worship is not void of any and all emotion. While we must have control over our emotions, true worship will result in displays of sorrow, joy, gratitude, and wonder.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
Over the weekend my father-in-law and I fixed the temperature & pressure relief valve on my hot water heater. Essentially, it's the most important system of a water heater, because it relieves pressure in the tank to keep it from exploding and ending life as you know it. From time to time, a properly functioning valve will open up and let pressure out. Well...emotions work the same way. We must learn not to bottle things up, or else we'll explode. But this is not just important in our relationships with others, but also in our relationship with God. True worship is not void of any and all emotion. While we must have control over our emotions, true worship will result in displays of sorrow, joy, gratitude, and wonder.
#SetYourMindAbovePodcast
Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! I’m your host BJ Sipe – I’m a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In this podcast we take everyday, ordinary events and explore how they can teach us extraordinary, eternal truths. I’m so glad that you joined me for this episode. Now, let’s open up our minds, our hearts, and our Bible’s together.
Before we begin, you guys have been so patient with the sporadic schedule as of late. Life has been absolutely crazy over here at our place, and I am so grateful that you guys show me so much grace when episodes sometimes have to be postponed like last Friday’s. One of the most important life lessons that I have learned is that “everything you say yes to, you say no to something else.” I’ve been trying to say yes way too much recently, and my shepherds have been reminding me to slow down, and I am very grateful for their encouragement and counsel. More about that later this week. For now, I want to tell you about a little home repair that my father-in-law and I got into before they had to leave over the weekend. So, our home is a brand-new build, and we are the first owners. In fact, when we first moved here three years ago it was not even finished yet. That being said, everything about the house then is under three years old: all the appliances, all the fixtures, the roof, etc. Usually when appliances are under three years old you aren’t very concerned about problems, but when you walk outside to your garage and see a small stream flowing from your hot water heater…that’s a problem. It’s been crazy, in the last few months I’ve had several things break that I’ve needed to fix: our dishwasher, two sinks, and now this hot water heater. Upon inspection, the water was coming from the line out of the T & P valve, which stands for temperature and pressure relief. Usually, this valve is just precautionary and is hardly ever activated. But it is one of the most important pieces of equipment on your hot water heater, that is for sure. Essentially, it’s there to keep your water heater from exploding like a bomb. Seriously look it up, MythBusters were able to shoot one about 500 feet into the air by blocking the T & P valve. How it works is that the valve activates and releases water to relieve excess temperature and pressure inside of the tank. Usually this only happens little bits at a time, but in our case our valve was faulty and it was just letting water run out like it was a garden hose. We ran over to Lowe’s, picked up a new valve and installed it which seems to have done the trick. I’m so grateful that it was just a valve issue and not a tank issue. For starters, we should not be having to think about repairing or replacing a water heater that was installed in 2019 already. But most importantly, I don’t have to wonder if I’m going to start World War III from an explosion out of my garage. A water heater blowing is extraordinarily dangerous, which kind of goes unsaid, be it gas or electric. That is why this valve is so critical, because it keeps things from being bottled up inside until finally, and quite literally, blowing through the roof. Hopefully this will be my last dealings with it, and I’m glad that I had my father-in-law around to help me identify the issue and teach me a new skill as a homeowner.
Obviously, we can all understand the critical importance of something like a T & P valve, but do we understand the critical importance of not letting things bottle up inside ourselves? I’m so grateful that in our time, we are turning back to a culture that encourages and embraces showing emotion. In times past, showing emotion was considered weakness or inappropriate, especially among men. And yet, bottling up our emotions, be it sadness, anger, joy, or worry is one of the worst things that we could possibly do for ourselves. Doing so can lead to great destruction, where we bottle things up until we finally blow – hurting those that are around us. Allowing ourselves to let our emotions out in appropriate levels, much like a T & P valve, is the best thing for our relationships. Scripture speaks of this in many ways. Consider for a moment what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4, “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven: a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” There is a place for everything in life, and that includes a time and a place for you to allow your emotions to be expressed. This is how God designed us, to feel the things that we feel and allow these emotions to be harnessed and used for good. God never designed us to just bottle things in. As a matter of fact, if we do so, we rob others of an opportunity to help us or encourage us. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” How are others supposed to rejoice with me or weep with me if I bottle everything in? How can they know what I’m feeling or experiencing if I never express those things in front of others? Bottling things up does not make you stronger or tougher, it makes you weaker because you isolate yourself. Not only this, the longer you hold things in the more the pressure will build until suddenly you explode. But do you recognize that allowing our emotions to be expressed and come out is not only what is best for our earthly relationships, but also for our relationship with God? For whatever reason, so many churches for fear of drifting off into exaggerated dramatized showmanship in worship have elected to show no emotion at all. We sing with stoic faces. We sit still, not moving a muscle. We don’t lift our hands, or even kneel in prayer anymore. The common picture of traditional, Christian worship is void of any and all emotion. But my friends, this is not how God has called for us to worship him. Jesus said in John 4:23-24, “But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” Certainly there is a time and place for everything, and we must have control over our emotions, but those emotions ought to be shown in worship if we are truly to worship God from the heart! If a prayer moves you to tears…then cry! If a baptism moves you to rejoicing – then do it! Sing, clap, shout hallelujah! Time would fail us to look at the countless examples of emotion being expressed by worshipers of God in Scripture, both among the people of Israel and those in the church age. The point is this: God does not want you to keep everything bottled up. Be in control of your emotions, but let them be seen! Heartfelt worship is one that cannot be separated from emotion. Let’s conclude with Psalm 103:1, “My soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”
Thank you for tuning in to today’s episode, and I would invite you back Tuesdays-Fridays for a brand-new episode each day. If you haven’t already, be sure to find us on Facebook for occasional announcements and special video sessions. If you have benefited from this podcast, please if you’re able be sure to share it with someone else that you think could benefit from it as well. Until next time, know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each & every day set our minds above.