tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-248401322024-03-13T08:54:10.112-05:00Sabbath MeditationsRandom Thoughts Along the Narrow PathTony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-59486195566770793042022-11-26T08:26:00.000-06:002022-11-26T08:26:48.966-06:00Practicing Pure Religion
According to James 1:27, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to...mumble, mumble, mumble...keep oneself unspotted from the world."
Striving to stay unspotted from world. Being zealous to overcome sin. Yep, got that one down, baby! Rejecting worldly teaching and immorality and holding onto Truth? Check that! That's my life, man! That's what I really care about!
Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-31201725737936435502019-06-09T08:16:00.000-05:002019-06-09T20:24:59.815-05:00Celebrating DefeatA momentous milestone passed in our family a few weeks ago. You know, as you go through life there are little events that mark turning points in our lives, experiences that signal the end of one season and the beginning of another. That was this event for me.What was it? Well, my son Jordan beat me arm wrestling. I know, I know. I was just as stunned as you are. And here’s the thing; It wasn’tTony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-88191168762727290312016-07-23T06:39:00.003-05:002016-07-23T06:42:09.131-05:00You Might be a Lukewarm Christian if...
"So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16
You might be a luke-warm christian if...
...you wear nicer clothes to work than you do to church.
...you have more notes on your refrigerator than you do in your Bible.
...you think redemption is something you do with a winning lottery ticket.
...all but a few of the pages of your Bible Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-37095182891453585352015-12-09T08:12:00.002-06:002015-12-09T08:16:47.441-06:00Dialing Down Our Bah-hum-bug Meter"Tis the season to be jolly...fa, la, la, la, la, la - la, la...blaahhh..."
Not all of us are feeling all that jolly this time of year, are we? Frankly many of us who hold strong convictions about being true to what God's Word teaches find much in this season about which to be downright cynical.
The empty hype, the commercialism, the rituals and timing of the season adopted so blatantly and Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-64751115574295438782015-12-08T10:12:00.001-06:002015-12-08T10:12:59.969-06:00Small Choices, Big ConsequencesI faced a moral conundrum while standing in front of the pop machine at work the other day.
Now, I know there may be some health purists who would argue that the act of standing in front of a pop machine is evidence of moral failing, in and of itself. Let's set that issue aside for the moment.
This particular pop machine has one quirky, some would say delightful, feature. Upon depositing Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-47319822855031614402015-10-24T09:30:00.002-05:002015-12-08T13:14:54.422-06:00Victory Through SurrenderThere was a time when, as a Christian, new in the faith, reading parts of God's Word was sometimes, well, discouraging.
Sure, there are the encouraging parts. The "God so loved the world" parts, and the "He who has made us to our God Kings and Priests" parts.
But then there are those other parts, the laundry lists of things to overcome, stuff to do, exhortations to change. It's difficult Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-18569073002207047642014-11-16T09:52:00.000-06:002014-11-23T09:09:34.904-06:00Redefining Royalty"For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” - Revelation 5:9-10
Did you read that Christian? One day, if you play your cards right; if you endure till the end, you'll be wearing a crown, sporting a beautiful robe and eating on plates of Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-71583949752123420552014-03-09T12:07:00.000-05:002015-12-08T13:16:37.283-06:00Imperfect Me, Perfect God"He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. ...I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."
- Revelation 3:12 - 21
Some incredible promises those!
A pillar in the temple. A seat next to God on His Throne. Amazing!
In return for what? Overcoming?
All of us who call ourselves Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-5875312262692455022013-11-03T14:53:00.003-06:002013-11-03T17:30:29.332-06:00Ode' to the Hymnal GuyA few Sabbaths ago I found myself watching the "hymnal guy" do his thing before and after services. This guy was everywhere; smiling and greeting members at the door; carrying a hymnal to an elderly woman who was already in her chair; scanning the congregation during the song service for anyone who may have forgotten to pick one up in the lobby; making his way down each isle to collect hymnals Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-84243141131635287592013-03-17T19:28:00.000-05:002013-03-17T19:28:13.162-05:00It's Not About the Toaster (Annual Re-Post)The Days of Unleavened Bread. A toaster's day in the sun. Only during these days does a normally mundane appliance get thrust center stage in the relentless endeavor to purge out the leaven, aka, sin, from every corner of our homes.
It's a ritual re-enacted every Spring by those of us who take seriously the command to keep the annual High Sabbaths, given by our Lord in the Old Testament and Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-1347613998150295142012-04-16T20:02:00.002-05:002012-04-16T20:02:41.447-05:00Christ In Us. Our Hope of GloryOkay, more than halfway through the Days of Unleavened Bread and so far so good. I've yet to a plow down a donut in the office cafeteria without thinking or munch down a handful of croutons with my dinner salad. The symbol of sin has not, knowingly anyway, crossed my lips.
Although I've done well with the command not to eat, I wish I could say as much about the command we are given to eat. After Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-72845918361560318222012-03-24T10:23:00.012-05:002012-03-24T12:54:58.734-05:00Passover - Antidote for Self-RelianceIn I Corinthians 11:27 we read regarding the Passover observance that many of us are soon to partake, "Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup."
Self-examination. It's a solemn exercise in which we, as members of HisTony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-36811296374939575602012-03-17T14:21:00.004-05:002012-03-17T14:44:08.737-05:00It's Not About the ToasterThe Days of Unleavened Bread. A toaster's day in the sun. Only during these days does a normally mundane appliance get thrust center stage in the relentless endeavor to purge out the leaven, aka, sin, from every corner of our homes.
It's a ritual re-enacted every Spring by those of us who take seriously the command to keep the annual High Sabbaths, given by our Lord in the Old Testament and Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-21067335169504670602012-01-21T10:56:00.008-06:002015-12-08T13:18:24.453-06:00Spiritual Over Training"Tony, you're overtraining. You need to stop pushing so hard."
Those were the words the physical therapist said to me a couple of weeks ago. I was whining to her about the constant ache in my shoulder and the frustrating lack of progress I had made since having rotator cuff surgery.
Her words floored me. How could I be doing too much??! Everything I read about therapy warned of the danger ofTony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-82604069170190732122011-12-24T11:10:00.003-06:002016-02-06T06:20:48.453-06:00All Sabbath Keepers are Legalists and other Straw Men ArgumentsShow of hands of those who are already weary of election year politics? It's just getting to be a little too much isn't it? It's almost a full year away from the next presidential election and the mud is flying in every direction.
With a media culture catering to the ever shortening attention span of the public, elections these days are won or lost based, not on the strength of ideas, but on Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-79524916385265778962011-12-10T11:47:00.011-06:002011-12-10T12:04:34.931-06:00"Share Your Energy, People!""How you all doing??!!! Let me hear how much you love this!!!!"
A few grunts, a weak, "woo-hoo", mostly silence.
"C-mon! You can do better than that! Let me hear you!!!"
A few more grunts, three or four faint ''woo-hoos." Silence. . .
I was about thirty minutes into an hour long spin class, pedaling my brains out on a stationary bike along with thirty or so others who'd signed up for the Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-43843955858311506192011-12-03T11:17:00.006-06:002011-12-05T11:53:54.570-06:00Avoiding Spiritual Big Baby SyndromeSeveral months ago I underwent major surgery to repair a full thickness tear to a portion of the rotator cuff in my left shoulder. Eight weeks out of surgery, other than opening and closing my hand, my left arm was pretty much useless. I'd been told to expect anywhere from six to twelve months of therapy to regain full mobility and strength in my shoulder. Little did I know just how Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-41154004660012877412011-11-19T10:28:00.019-06:002013-11-03T14:51:53.451-06:00Ode' to the Hymnal GuyA few Sabbaths ago I found myself watching the "hymnal guy" do his thing before and after services. This guy was everywhere, smiling and greeting members at the door; carrying a hymnal to an elderly woman who was already in her chair, scanning the congregation during the song service for anyone who may have forgotten to get one at the door; And, finally, making his way down each isle to collect Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-69775741350421152112011-11-12T12:23:00.004-06:002011-11-13T07:06:40.303-06:00Relationship vs. RewardOn December 17, 1903, brother's Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight.
The Wright brothers weren't alone in their quest to conquer the air. Their main source of competition was from a man named Dr. Samuel Langley. Langley was the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and, therefore, had many more resources Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-31056637587631871842011-11-05T10:58:00.013-05:002011-11-06T20:55:50.249-06:00The Gospel - Preaching the Big PictureIf you were to ask a Christian in one of the mainstream protestant denominations the question, "What is the gospel" the answer that would more than likely roll off their tongue would be, "It's the gospel about Jesus Christ."
But if you were to ask many of us in the Sabbath keeping tradition the same question you might hear something along the lines of, "It's not the gospel about Jesus Christ Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-5930113162251132902011-10-29T10:50:00.009-05:002011-10-29T20:55:39.020-05:00Called to be in the Choir"You're tone deaf." Those are the words I heard, just minutes into an audition for a small musical ensemble at the college I once attended. Those words landed like a brick on my ego. The irony was that I had actually been a member of this same ensemble the previous year. However, the number of those auditioning had been smaller that year and the acceptance threshold had been set much lower.Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-47431820958580600972011-10-08T09:10:00.008-05:002011-10-11T14:04:22.802-05:00Day of Atonement - It's Not About UsThe Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. An incredibly joyous occasion.
There is so much to celebrate that will occur on this day, yet future. The Saints will have risen to meet their returning Lord in the air and will descend with Him on the mount of Olives. All who come to make war with the returning King will have been vanquished. Satan, that old serpent, the devil, who enslaves the whole world Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-77113800775048644582011-10-01T11:10:00.001-05:002011-10-08T09:39:19.444-05:00Cure for the "ism's"I love my teenage son. He's a joy to have around and I couldn't be a prouder father. But like most teenage sons, from time to time he is afflicted with that dreaded malady, teenage know-it-all-ism. Thankfully, I've found a wonderful defense in the battle against this dreaded disease: Google©.
My last opportunity to deploy this powerful weapon came just last week when I found my son Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-21161906827913411332011-09-24T16:34:00.005-05:002011-09-26T09:54:17.327-05:00Chronic Gift Wasting DisorderThursday evening my wife and I attended a very inspirational seminar sponsored by my daughter's High School. Courtney had heard the presentation at a school assembly and had been so moved by it that we just had to see it for ourselves. The presentation was called "Rachel's Challenge." Rachel Scott was the first of thirteen people killed during the Columbine High School massacre on April 20,Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24840132.post-17820671562121867142011-09-17T10:58:00.002-05:002022-02-10T15:43:09.565-06:00What Not To Wear - Examining Our Spiritual WardrobeOriginally published in September, 2011I heard a comedian joke the other day that when it comes to clothing style, we men are hopeless. Basically, most of us pick out a point of time in our lives when we felt at the top of our game looks wise, and whatever style we were wearing at that time we just ride out for the rest of our lives. You can walk down the street and see a guy over 40 and pretty Tony Stithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08303324207085986319noreply@blogger.com0