Staying Hydrated
Food and water consumption are essential for survival. We need energy from food sources and hydration from water for our bodies to function properly. In general, a healthy person can go without food for weeks but only up to three days without water. Our bodies can use up the fat to provide energy. Water, on the other hand, carries nutrients, oxygen, and waste to and from our body’s cells and organs. Water also helps to keep us cool. Water makes up about 60% of our weight.
We stay hydrated by drinking water. Based upon my sex, age, weight, and activity level I need to drink about 96 fluid ounces per day. I need constant hydration.
Our souls need constant hydration as well. Do you feel spiritually dry? If you answered yes, it could be that you have failed to spiritually “drink.” The Bible talks about receiving nourishment for our body and souls by drinking water. Not just any water, but water that Scripture calls “living water.” The Bible calls God the fountain of life (Psalm 36:8-9), the source of life. And Jesus tells us that He is our spring of water, the sustainer of life. (John 4:10-14; 7:37-39). The apostle Paul tells us that among other things, Jesus is the glue that holds all things together (Colossians 1:15-20).
Let’s first turn to a verse of scripture from Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Water was a rare luxury in ancient days, and water from an underground spring, a never-ending source, was to be cherished. On the other hand, cisterns only hold rainwater. At best, they store stagnant water; and at worst, they are cracked and the water seeps back into the ground. So, the verse we just looked at tells us that the nation of Judah rejected God, they looked away from the “spring of living water” and by doing so they looked elsewhere for water (life), as this verse says, “they dug their own cisterns.”
Isn’t that also true of us? We often look to a broken and leaky cistern to meet our daily needs, or in other words, to find sustenance, to find life. And if that one doesn’t work, we look for another broken and leaky cistern. And when that cistern runs dry, we move to the next one, on and on.
In John 7:37-38, Jesus invites “anyone who is thirsty to come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” And near the end of the Bible, in Revelation 22:17, we are invited to “drink freely from the water of life.”
Today, to keep yourself physically hydrated, pour a glass of cold water and drink from it. And to keep your soul hydrated, I want to encourage you to “drink” from Jesus, your source of living water. Drink and drink and drink from His endless cool and refreshing spring. It is there that you will stay hydrated.
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