Did you know that water is our bodies’ principal chemical component and that every system in our body depends on water? I was reading an article on the Mayo Clinic website (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283) that talked about how much our bodies need water. It was a very interesting article that brought up something that surprised me.
According to the Institute of Medicine the average adult male, living in a temperate climate, needs 13 cups of fluids a day. The total is 9 cups for women. I had always heard 8 cups, but this article shows that information to be based more on the ease of remembering that number (8 cups of 8 ounces each) than on factual information about what is best for the body. Although, if we are at least drinking 8 cups, then we will be in the ballpark.
The article also says that if we are drinking enough water, then we should rarely be thirsty. We should be hydrating ahead of time, before we need it. That makes sense, but we tend to rely on our thirst to let us know when we need to drink something.
I doubt that I drink enough water. I know that I get thirsty periodically throughout the day. Especially when I am being more physically active, or when it is hot outside. But imagine if we only had to drink one time per day and that would be enough water for that day? Imagine if we took one drink and then we were never thirsty for the rest of our lives? That would be incredible wouldn’t it?
Well, in the Bible, Jesus was talking with a woman while sitting by a well, and He told her that He had living water and whoever drank that water would never be thirsty again. Of course she was intrigued. She was also confused. But after spending time with Jesus, her life was changed forever.
You see, Jesus was talking spiritually not physically. He was referring to that thirst within us that can only be quenched by a right relationship with God. And that thirst can be quenched, once for all, through Jesus Christ. You can read the story in John 4 and you can find out more about it at The River this Sunday, at 9:30 a.m.