This year both of my children moved south with their families. They soon learned that in the southern heat they needed to drink more water than they were used to. I couldn’t help but chuckle when my 6 and 7 year old granddaughters talked about needing to stay hydrated. One day, while I was visiting, my son-in-law was cutting the lawn on a very hot day. My granddaughter said, “Daddy got dehydrated”. When he came into the house she asked him, “Daddy, did you rehydrate yet?” I mean really, what 7-year-old says stuff like that?

As I have thought about hydration relative to our spiritual life, I realized that we can be dehydrated Christians. If we do not drink deeply of the Word on a regular basis we can easily become dehydrated.

If we are reading all kinds of other spiritual books, but not reading the Word, I believe we can be in danger of thinking we are well hydrated spiritually when in fact we are not.

The thing with dehydration is it can sneak up on us. By the time we realize we are dehydrated it will take more than just a cup of water to “rehydrate”. Similarly, by the time we realize we are spiritually dehydrated, it will take more than a day or two of Bible reading to be well watered again.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. Psalm 42:1

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:10

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:38

Don’t become a dehydrated Christian. Drink deeply of the Water of the Word on a regular basis. Stay hydrated.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 4 grandchildren, 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.