Refreshed

Are you thirsty? Do you feel like your thirst is never quenched? Do you feel an ongoing need for hydration? Are we every fully satisfied?

Water is essential to our lives. I am sure you already know we cannot survive without it. But did you know our bodies are made of 50-70% water? Water is vital as it dissolves substances, carries nutrients, transports oxygen, aids other organs, regulates body temperature, sends electrical messages, helps digestion, and many other essential functions. And not only is our body made of water, we have to continually put water in to continue replenishing what we use and lose. So we never arrive and have a sufficient and lasting amount of water. We always need more and more. How people get water into their body can look a little different, but the base has to be water.  Water in its purest form is the best.  But you can get small amounts of waters from teas, fruits, vegetables, and other foods. But that doesn’t replace the need for just pure water.

We always think of drinking water once we get thirsty, but what we forget is it is much more beneficial to hydrate yourself consistently.  When competing or exercising, the process of drinking water should happen way before you even start.  Water improves performance from the beginning.  Once you feel thirsty, it has already gone too far.  Your body is then in survival mode. Water needs to be an every day, all the time, without even thinking, choice.

Now some of you may see where I am going, but can’t we look at this and compare it to our lives as believers.  To be truly refreshed, we need to saturate ourself in the love of Jesus, the word of God, the community of believers, the blessing of prayer, and the opportunity of faith. When the dry feelings come, we are much farther dehydrated than we even realize at the first sign of thirst.  Without feeling thirsty, we should thirst for more. Like not being able to live without water, we cannot fully live without Christ. We try to satisfy our physical needs with many things, flavored water, juice, lemonade, soda, certain fruits, foods,  But the purest form and our biggest need is water. Our spiritual mental and emotional need can only truly be satisfied in the Lord. We can make other things seem pleasureable and satisfactory for a little while, but the deep root of our need still is driven by our need for the Lord.  Just like we can drink all sorts of other things, but our body needs water. If you are feeling dehydrated emotionally and spiritually, make sure you get water in its truest form. You need Jesus.  You don’t necessarily need a program or a new routine.  You need Jesus.

There is an ebb and flow to the amount of water you need.  Just like there are valleys and mountains in the journey of life. But never can we go a day without water.  Never should we go a day without Jesus.  If we try, if we get distracted, or if we try to fill that void with other things, we are only left thirsty.  Thirsty on a road to get desperate.  If we remain thirsty, we are missing the fullness of life as God created it.  He wants us to never hunger and thirst.  He wants us to be filled, satiated, and satisfied in him. Can my thirst draw me desperate for the Lord.  I want to be desperate as a state of realizing my continuous need, not desperate in a way where it feels too late. So may I fill myself with the water of life so I can constantly quench my thirst, always understanding my need for water, and never trying to replace it with something else.  As my body needs water, my soul needs the water of life.

Psalm 63:1 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Psalm 107:9 “For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

John 6:33-35 “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”  Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 4:13-14 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. “

Are you thirsty? What are you doing to try to satisfy your thirst? Is it working?