8-10 "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."
Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV)
“The Rule of Threes” survival principle states that a person can only survive three days without water.
In John 4:13,14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
It’s recommended that we drink eight glasses of water daily, and being hydrated has become a priority in our health-conscious society. In fact, water has become a huge industry with innovative companies providing designer water bottles to keep our water cool and within arm’s reach 24/7.
We are officially obsessed with water.
In John 4:13, Jesus boldly proclaims to the seeking woman that He, not the well, is the best water source there is, because if you drink from Him, you will never get thirsty again. What an earthshaking proclamation, particularly in a desert nation where gathering water was a full-time job!
Jesus also tells this woman that the water He gives is so powerful and lifegiving, that it will well up in the receiver and become a water source for other people. Likewise, in John 7:37-39 Jesus claims, “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
As health-conscious athletes, we are totally enamored with quenching our physical thirst, but we often forget about our soul thirst. We walk around spiritually dehydrated.
Do you want to hydrate your soul? Do you want to water the souls of others? To do so, you must first be supernaturally hydrated by Jesus.
But what does that mean? Imagine for a moment what it might feel like actually be “dying” of thirst – the cracked lips, swollen tongue, dry throat, dizzy head and blurred vision. Have you got the image?
Now picture a tall, ice-cold glass of life-giving water – what would your next move be? Would you ignore the water, or would you take the water in your shaky hands and greedily gulp it down?
Just looking at the water won’t quench our thirst. In order to survive we must take the water and drink it! We must get the life-giving water inside of us.
This same principle applies to hydrating our hearts and souls too. We must receive the water that Jesus is offering us – take it, drink it, and let it fill us up.
Athlete, our deep spiritual thirst can be satisfied forever. We have a clean, abundant, safe, fulfilling water source – Jesus.
And if we drink, we will be filled with the Holy Spirit too, enabling us to become overflowing fountains of grace, forgiveness and love, irrigating everyone we meet. Colossians 1:27 gives us the key, “... Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
A prayer to consider: Lord, I receive you into my life as my Lord and Savior. Hydrate my heart from the inside out. Make me a fountain for others.
