Christina Zbinden

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

One of the most bracing quotes about forgiveness I’ve ever read.

[Rebecca McLaughlin @RebeccMcLaugh]

One of my main roles as a middle aged church lady is nudging our Gen Z members to hang out with each other. "You like so-and-so? Great! Get his/her number and make a plan!" "You're feeling lonely? You know what, I had this exact conversation with so-and-so. You guys should hang out!"

I can invite our younger people over & I do. Intergenerational relationships are precious. But I can also help them invite each other over. Gen Z is the loneliest generation on record, but that shouldn't be the case in church.

Middle aged church ladies often focus on matchmaking couples. But what if our younger siblings need help making friends?

[Gretchen Ronnevik @garonnevik]

@uppityhobbit Men and women are different. Yet these “conservative men” are treating women like they’re just defective men.

[Mary Weller @MWellertXc]

I see we’re having the debate about postpartum depression again.

I’ll lay myself open: I was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis after my daughter was born. My chemistry was such a wreck, I didn’t sleep for the first 71 hours after her delivery. I’d been awake all day before that. So I was in a pretty dangerous zone of hormonal imbalance/sleep deprivation. I thought I heard Satan asking me why God couldn’t make me sleep if He was real and cared about me. Sleep. Such a simple thing. But life circumstances and my messed up hormones meant I couldn’t.

I ended up in the hospital, weeping and raving about my desire to take care of my daughter and my fear that I was insane.

I read Genesis 3 and see the reality of the curse of sin played out in my life. For me it was more dramatic than many women I know. It gives me deep sympathy for even the mom who just can’t stop weeping. Her feelings are so real. Perhaps not all based on reality — but deep, and vulnerable, and terrifying nonetheless.

And it makes me think of Adam’s curses as well. Destined to feel a need to fight for sustenance for himself and all those he holds dear — but never able to do so without a battle. Without the very world he was meant to steward waging war against him. Dear heavens — what tragic strain, sorrow, and responsibility. Failure meaning death for himself, or those he loves, or loss of all respect and value in his own eyes or the eyes of those about whom he cares. Or he throws all caution to the wind and sets all on fire. That’ll show her.

I keep seeing women responding with “oh YEAH buddy?? Try THIS harrowing scenario we women deal with.” And men saying “try working the job I do, toots. I’ll stay home and YOU go wage the war I have to wage.”

And they both seem to hate each other.

Brothers and sisters — that’s the additional part of the curse. She would desire his place and he would rule over her.

Both sides are living out in real time the wages of sin. And that leads to death.

I beg you. Find sympathy for the other in what the other’s experience of the curse must be. Seek refuge in the Savior, who was promised before the curse could begin to take effect. He’s our only hope.

Love the other as you would be loved. This battle of the sexes as it’s playing out right now is ignorant on every side. It’s playing out just as the enemy would have it. We were created in God’s image male and female. We both deal with the curse. We both long for deliverance. And that deliverance comes in humility before the savior. Not duking it out with each other.

This isn’t an essay. It’s unedited and rough as a result. But I do believe it’s all informed by scripture. Men — sympathize with your sisters and the way they bear the results of the curse. Women — do the same for your brothers. Let Christ be your strength. Let Christ be your peace. There is no victory in battling one another.

[Christina Zbinden @cspezbinden]

Wow!

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Man, this is beautiful. A life adorning the gospel.

Listen to what @StevenBartlett—host of one of the world’s most popular podcasts—says to Christian apologist John Lennox.

[Christina Zbinden @cspezbinden]

Read!!

[Kyle Worley @kyleworley]

There is an ever widening gap in almost every major “domain” of life. For many people, they feel helpless. What could they possibly do to not get left behind?

I won’t pretend to be smart or skilled enough to give you a roadmap for bridging every chasm, but there is one thing you can start doing right now that will have a dramatic impact on every dimension of your life.

📔It’s free.

📔It’s readily available.

📔It’s demonstrably proven to increase your quality of life.

Read.

Read everything.

On my nightstand, you can find the Bible (currently reading James), a Spider Man comic book, Dostoevsky, and a non-fiction book on the structure of the brain. I find myself wandering through Paul Pastor’s new collection of poems (The Locust Years). On my Kindle, I am plowing through Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive.

My current audiobook listen is Matt Dinniman’s new book about invaders on a space colony.

You can do this too.

Get a library card, borrow a book, cancel a monthly subscription to a streamer and use the money to buy and read one book a month.

I just finished George Saunder’s new novel, Vigil, in two days. It made me cry. I wanted to hug my daughters after I read it. I watched a bird outside my window for ten minutes without picking up my phone.

We are quickly approaching a time when one of the largest “gaps” will be between those who read and those who cannot read.

We need word readers, word workers, and word sharers.

I don’t care if you and your friend talk about loss and grief in the story of Miles Morales’ Spiderman or if you hand copy a recipe you loved from a cookbook for a friend - be someone who picks words up, reads them, and gives them away.

[Christina Zbinden @cspezbinden]

Wow

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Ben Sasse is facing death and reveling in the glory of grace.

This is what life is about.

[Boze Herrington, Library Owl 😴🧙‍♀️ @SketchesbyBoze]

C. S. Lewis tried to warn us about AI

[challies @challies]

Flashback: Few people want to be part of a church that doesn’t pray, but few people want to attend a prayer meeting. You should ponder this conundrum.
https://t.co/wewU2L9R66

[Christina Zbinden @cspezbinden]

Wow!

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

What Christmas is all about.

Sinclair Ferguson on the staggering wonder of the incarnation.

[Diane Langberg, PhD @DianeLangberg]

Dear ones who weep in Central Texas, you are suffering an unbearable grief. I grieve with you, as does our Lord.

[Christina Zbinden @cspezbinden]

Love her! There’s a Savior and it’s not anything (ANYTHING) other than Christ.

[Gretchen Ronnevik @garonnevik]

I just keep coming back to this.
Guys, by many definitions, I fit the bill of a trad-wife. I'm conservative Christian. I believe in male headship. I homeschooled for 14 years. I had 6 kids--2 of them birthed at home.

My husband is a farmer. He works the land. He supports our family. He's a big strong guy, who played football in college. He's a church elder.

And it's all rubbish.

Don't get me wrong, our life is beautiful. Messy, and not as idyllic as it appears. But we have many good things. I love our kids.

But it's all rubbish IN COMPARISON TO THE SURPASSING GREATNESS OF KNOWING CHRIST. He is everything.

People are out here promoting the trad-life as the savior of western civilization, and what will fix our great nation. We look at the state of the world and say, "you know what people need? We should just make them..."

You've lost the plot. It's all about Christ. He is the plot. He's the beginning, middle, and end.

Being a Christian isn't promoting ideals found in the Bible--cherry picking which verses confirm the life I would like to pursue. It's being held by Christ. It's believing he is everything. It's saying, not by my flesh, but by his flesh. Not by works, so that no one can boast. He's the plot.

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Chilling facts from @JonHaidt.

Love your children by keeping them off social media.

[Rachel Joy Welcher @racheljwelcher]

Lol at feisty Gretchen.

But I can't tell you how many times I've heard:

"When women step up, men step back" re: the church.

How about: Men and women both step up because THERE IS PLENTY TO DO. The world needs the gospel, our neighbors need a listening ear and probably a hot meal, the sick want visitors, men and women want Bible studies, care, prayer, love.

For goodness sake. Can we stop blaming one another? That's like, so Adam and Eve. We need one another. We need everyone in the church. The Great Commission is for all of us. The Church is for all of us. The lost are dying.

[Jared C. Wilson @jaredcwilson]

A "vibe shift" is all well and good. But if we will see genuine spiritual renewal -- revival? -- we will need more than feelings and religiosity. We will need repentance, a returning to closeness with Christ.

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Don’t ever imagine that anything is too small to pray about. If it concerns you, it concerns God.

— Elisabeth Elliot

[Dustin Benge @DustinBenge]

Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing, and realizing of the gospel in our souls.

John Owen

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

“The gospel is sweeter music and gives deeper pleasure than any siren song this world has to offer.”

Masterful illustration from Sam Emadi.

[Glen Scrivener @glenscrivener]

Will any of us, in all our lives, be as effective an evangelist as John Hughes, writing this scene from Home Alone? 🥲

[Christina Zbinden @cspezbinden]

We didn’t play/do Santa but I love this perspective! ❤️❤️

[Gretchen Ronnevik @garonnevik]

We played the fairytale of Santa because it's fun. And imagination in general is good to exercise, and good for faith. We presented it more as a mix of history and fable, and played along, and answered questions as they came--presented it as a game. Plus...presents are fun.

But still, Jesus is better. Kids know that. Santa only gives you treats when you're "nice." He holds out a carrot to get you to behave. Santa is all law.

Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. The older kids get, the more they'll gravitate to the one with grace. The question isn't, "do you do Santa with your kids?" but "Do you teach the lavish grace of Jesus to the extent that Santa looks small?"