" … whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." John 4:14 (NIV)

When I was a young child, I liked to watch the public television program called Sesame Street. More than twenty years later, I don't remember many of the segments, but one of the most memorable to me was that of a character crawling across a desert, sun beating down on him, yelling "Agua! Agua!" — the Spanish word for water.

He was thirsty.

This summer, I had reason to think again about the importance of water to the thirsty. As my daughter, Kylie, and I were walking to a lake near our house we saw an ice chest, a large umbrella, and two chairs by the side of the road. There was no one else around, so we stopped to get a closer look. A sign on the ice chest said that inside was free bottled water for weary travelers. The chairs and umbrella were for rest from the heat.

It should come as no surprise that we can't live without water. After all, our bodies are mostly water. Our brain, in fact, is 75 percent water, which explains why even slight dehydration literally can give us headaches.

The same goes for our relationship with God. We can't live our lives to the fullest without him.

Are you thirsty for God? Do you have a sense of mission for your life, knowledge that your life should be lived in joyful service to the Lord?

If not, you can do a spiritual self-evaluation and make the necessary changes. When the thirst you once knew comes back, you'll want to drink deeply from the streams of living water that only Jesus can supply.

— Matt Donnelly, for the ChristianityToday.com staff

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