Recovery Devotional 329 Hi-Fi Church

JMD Devotional 329 3 John 1:4-8 Hi-Fi Church

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers. In fact, I greatly rejoiced when [some of] the brethren from time to time arrived and spoke [so highly] of the sincerity and fidelity of your life, as indeed you do live in the Truth [the whole Gospel presents]. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my [spiritual] children are living their lives in the Truth. Beloved, it is a fine and faithful work that you are doing when you give any service to the [Christian] brethren, and [especially when they are] strangers. They have testified before the church of your love and friendship. You will do well to forward them on their journey [and you will please do so] in a way worthy of God's [service].

For these [traveling missionaries] have gone out for the Name's sake (for His sake) and are accepting nothing from the Gentiles (the heathen, the non-Israelites). So we ourselves ought to support such people [to welcome and provide for them], in order that we may be fellow workers in the Truth (the whole Gospel) and cooperate with its teachers.

High-fidelity audio equipment faithfully reproduces sounds from the master recording, without adding distortion or noise. The amplifiers in a hi-fi instrument run at about half their potential gain; because as they near their max their quality breaks down, much like a soloist exceeding her vocal range. Hi-Fi circuits are designed with a lot of restraint: balance and tone filtering on the inputs and outputs, moderation in the gain, distribution of the workload between successive stages rather than overloading any given section. A genuine hi-fi instrument commands a much higher price. Rip-off manufacturers will copy the basic scheme, but will delete as many components as they can get away with to reduce cost, not appreciating the subtle contribution made by every single element. A hi-fi church is a healthy, prosperous body, drawing its life from many selfless members keenly committed to The Church; to preserve its love, truth and purity.

Dear God,

What can I do for You, my Lord, considering all of Your benefit towards me? Heaven has a strange economy; hoarding and selfishness brings poverty; sacrifice and generosity makes one wealthy. The self-promotion that works in the World fails in Your kingdom. Train us to be good churchmen and churchwomen; hi-fi Christians content in our place of service. Thank You for letting all of us rejoice in and share in the success of Your Church.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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