I Corinthians 6: 12-20
Paul is here addressing the third issue he deals with in this chapter, that our bodies don't belong to us, they are the Lord's.
All things are lawful for me but not all things are are profitable.
Just because something is legal, that doesn't mean that it is right, or beneficial.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
Something may not be against the law, but I don't need it, if it could cause me to acquire a bad habit or addiction.
Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them.
Food is meant to be eaten, but we need to pay attention to what we're putting into our stomachs that it will be healthy and beneficial.
Today there is a big emphasis on the kinds of foods that are available to eat. Some are touted to be healthy, but contain harmful chemicals that excite the pleasure sensors in our brain. Other foods make no bones about just being fun to eat.
Personally, I like to eat one-food foods, that don't contain any processing or added chemicals, and season them with wholesome herbs and salt and pepper. When my regular diet consists of this, then a doughnut once in a while does no harm.
Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
God made our bodies to be healthy, and we will give account for how we have maintained this tent we live in. Not only concerning physical health, but also to pay attention to our moral values, which also impact our health. And our Lord does expect us to take good care of all the resources He gave us, including our bodies, minds and emotions, and our spirits.
Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
Jesus' Resurrection was the raising of His physical body. And God will also raise up our physical bodies to be like His. So we need to take care of them.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
Christ is the head and we are all His body parts. We are all united.
Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
Paul here gives as an example of one way we can abuse our bodies, by engaging a prostitute. This is only an example; he has already mentioned several other ways we misuse and damage our bodies in different kinds of unrighteousness.
Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says,
The two shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
Paul quotes Genesis here, with God's pronouncement that Adam and Eve will join their bodies intimately into one unit together, and this is marriage.
So someone who joins intimately with another is trying to be "one flesh" with that person. If he is not married to that person, then it is fornication; or if he is married to someone else, it is adultery.
Or if they are two people who are of the same gender, then they are trying to accomplish what is a physical impossibility; this is an aberration, or a twisting of what God designed, a perversion.
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
When we are born into God's family, we receive His Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit of Jesus, who joins with our human spirits. So we are united with Jesus Christ.
He is our Husband and we are His bride.
Flee immorality.
So we are not to play with fire, but run away as fast as we can from any hint of immorality. God's Spirit in us gives us the power and authority to say "No!" to every temptation to stray. If we try to "stand and fight," we will lose. We can't fight temptation, we can only run from it. We stand and fight Satan. With our spiritual armor on.
Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
This is serious. Don't even consider a little "fooling around." Your body is holy to God, and He will hold you accountable for not seriously taking care of it. Your body reflects physically all the mental, emotional, and spiritual events in your life. Especially immorality.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
The Holy Spirit is God, and where God dwells is His Temple. So your body is the Temple of God today in the World.
and that you are not your own?
For you have been bought with a price:
When Jesus' Blood was poured out at the foot of the Cross when His side was pierced by the soldier's spear, He fulfilled the Corporate Sacrifice that Israel was to offer on the Day of Atonement, to purchase the whole World. So we are His property. We belong to Him by Creation and by Purchase. And when He becomes your Savior, we are His a third way--by Redemption.
therefore glorify God in your body.
We are to physically worship God with our voices, lifted hands, etc. And also by living our lives dedicated to His Kingdom, in purity and honesty and clear thinking. Our citizenship is in His Kingdom of Heaven. We need to live like it.
O my Father, You are our dear Father, You are our designer and maker, You are our Almighty God, who has planned out all the days of this Universe. And You are causing the Time to progress steadily, moment by moment, year by year, age by age, from beginning to end. Just as You want it, for Your enjoyment.
And You have made Mankind to live with You, to share Your joy and enjoyment with each of us of Mankind, to all have fun together forever!
Please strengthen us against the pull of this World and our own damaged DNA of our flesh. Help us to live our lives separate from the World, even as we live in the World; that our lives would be noticeably different from our neighbors around us, so they will ask us what makes us so different.
And use us to share Your Good News to all who ask, and even those who don't ask, but wonder. Let our lives so stand out as beacons in this dark World, that no one will mistake Your power in us.
And bring in all Your lost sheep into the One Fold with One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 6: 9-11
This is the second of three issues Paul tackles in this chapter of his letter. These people were apparently trying to straddle the fence by allowing this list of all kinds of evil behavior to go on, priding themselves on their tolerance and open mindedness.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Anyone who lives an unrighteous lifestyle is showing that he does not have the Spirit of God living in him, the Spirit of holiness and purity.
Do not be deceived;
Don't try to fool yourselves into thinking that any of these things are all right, under any circumstances:
neither fornicators,
Fornication is any kind of sexual or sensual relationship outside the covenant of marriage.
nor idolators,
An idol is anything you put first in your priorities before God, whether it be family, or things, or even yourself.
nor adulterers,
Adultery is married people having any kind of sexual or sensual relationship with someone not their spouse.
nor effeminate,
This means effeminate by perversion.
nor homosexuals,
"Abusers of themselves with mankind" are those who are injuring themselves by having relations, men with men, instead of with women in a moral and natural marriage relationship.
nor thieves,
A thief takes what doesn't belongs to him without the permission of the owner, even if it's just a little thing of "no consequence."
nor the covetous,
To covet is to desire what someone else owns for himself, rather than to be happy for the owner to have it.
nor drunkards,
To drink too much, to over-imbibe, in order to dull the senses.
nor revilers,
To revile is to to assail with contemptuous and outrageously disgraceful or shameful abusive language. It's a really strong word for cussing someone out.
nor swindlers,
This is to cheat by deceit, trickery or fraud.
will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Any one who behaves in any of these ways is showing that they don't know or care about God or His ways.
Such were some of you;
Paul is saying that some of these Christians used to live lifestyles characterized by these unrighteous attitudes.
but you were washed,
Christ's Blood washes away every stain of sin.
but you were sanctified,
When they were saved they were set apart from the World and the ways of the World.
but you were justified
Made just, according to Truth. God made us human, then when we are born again, He makes us pure and perfect.
in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ
Because of what Jesus accomplished as Christ for us.
and in the Spirit of our God.
God's Spirit dwells inside our spirits, making us pure and holy and just according to God's justice. He put our sin on Jesus' account, pouring out His wrath that we deserve on Him on the Cross; then He puts Jesus' righteous life on our page in the Account Book, to balance the books. He didn't deserve our punishment, nor do we deserve His righteous standing.
These Christians who lived in Corinth used to live their lives indulging in all these wicked and unhealthy lifestyles, before they came to Christ through Paul's teaching. But once they were born spiritually, they were set free from all these addictions and compulsions.
God made us to live with Him, and the only way to do that was for the Son to do what He did. It sounds grossly unfair to put our punishment on Jesus, when He didn't deserve it, but it's the only way God could be just, and also be our Justifier, to make us fit and able to live with Him. That's how much He Loves us.
O my Father, You planned out all this before You ever made anything. You knew that if You gave us a free will, that we would decide against You, and do all these awful things that are listed here. And that Your Son would have to come as our Lord God to fulfill all the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, just as He said.
That He would have to suffer in our place, and then rise victoriously from the grave.
And He will return to finish fulfilling the rest of all the predictions that have been written before He lived through any of it.
That is why He told His people to write it. And why He came to this Earth to be born as a human, just like we were, to die a human death for each of us.
And He will return soon, as soon as every one alive has heard Your Good News with enough understanding to decide for or against You.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 6: 1-8
In this chapter Paul now turns to three more issues they need to resolve.
The first is about lawsuits.
Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?
They are suing each other in the secular courts.
Or do you not know that the saints will judge the World? If the World is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest courts?
God has appointed His children to be the judges of the unrighteous of the World. So we should be competent to decide between Christians.
Do you not know that we will judge Angels? How much more matters of this life?
We will also be the judges over the Angels who sinned, a much more serious and spiritual matter. If we will have this authority, how much more capable we should be to decide matters of this World.
So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of least esteemed in the church?
If there are church members who aren't doing anything else, are they the ones you say to take this responsibility?
I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren?
If you do that, then your are admitting that no one in your congregation has enough godly wisdom to decide these matters. This is shameful, because you're not accepting what God has already given you.
But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
Instead they are suing one another in the secular courts.
Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another.
Even that they want to sue one another is not right.
Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
Love covers over all kinds of wrongs, and forgives and lets it slide.
On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.
It's not right to hold a grudge or demand retribution, but especially when we are attacking our own brothers and sisters.
We are to love one another, not only as we love ourselves, but as God Loves us. He Loves us with unconditional Love, that overcomes every obstacle. We will see later in this letter all the characteristics of the love we are to have for one another.
O my Father, You are so amazing, that You know us completely, yet You still Love us so enormously! Please help us to forego any grudges we may be tempted to bear, especially against our own family members, whether physical or spiritual.
Teach us how to love one another as You have Loved us, Father. Show us how to love with Your Love, instead of just our own human love. Even a mother's love is not as pure or great as Your Love for us.
And You have already given each one of us everything we need to do everything You have set before us to do to accomplish our part of Your great Plan of the Ages. Open our eyes and our understanding to all that You have empowered us to do.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ and our Lord God Almighty, our Sovereign King of the Universe; to the glory of Almighty God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 5: 1-13
Paul is in this chapter dealing with another issue this congregation has a problem with.
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.
This is probably not his mother, but more of a step-mother, or a woman his father married after he was grown up.
You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
They had not recognized the evil of this kind of immorality, but were congratulating themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.
For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.
Paul considered himself an elder in this church, and as such, had already evaluated the situation and come to a determination.
In the Name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus.
As the leaders convene this church council, they are to disassociate with this person and treat him as an outsider, not welcome in the intimate life of the church. Kicking him out like this could have resulted in his physical death with the removal of the support the church provided. But if he was saved, then he would still be redeemed in the Day of the Lord.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
Here Paul is using the figure of leaven representing sin. When you are making bread, you put a little yeast into a whole batch of dough, usually enough to make several loaves of bread. Then you let it rise, and that little bit of yeast leavens the whole batch. That's how sin can infect a whole congregation.
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
They are to consider themselves to be what they are, the unleavened lump of dough that will not rise at all. Paul brings in the Feast of the Passover, that required all leavening agents to be put out of their houses completely during the whole week of the celebration. Now we have Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed for us, as our Passover Lamb. He died once for all, so we don't ever again need to offer an animal as a blood sacrifice on an altar. That means we are still in the time of the Passover Feast.
Therefore let us celebrate the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So we need to live our lives without the sinfulness of worldly attitudes; instead embracing openness and transparency with one another, according to what is actual about each of us according to the Truth.
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
Paul had written a first letter to these Corinthians that has been lost. But we do have it's contents and meaning here in this letter.
I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the World.
If we cut ourselves off from associating with our neighbors and co-workers who aren't Christians, then how can we witness to them, or show them God's love? This is not making them our best friends.
But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one.
If someone claims to be a Christian and live an immoral life, then he is probably either trying to deceive you or is lying to himself. Because God's children cannot persist in an immoral life-style because God will either bring them back to His righteousness or take them home, out of our picture.
They were not to treat this immoral person as a respected member of their church.
For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?
But those who are outside, God judges.
Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. (Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21--The same verse repeated 5 times.)
Paul quotes a verse that was repeated five times in the Second Giving of the Law. God loves His people so much that He will go to extreme measures to insure that they follow Him in His ways, not the damaging and unhealthy ways of the World or the pagans that surrounded them.
When
I was in Bible College and taking an Old Testament Survey class, I read
through the whole Old Testament for the first time. I remember reading
through Deuteronomy and being struck so hard by how much God Loved His
people!
They were to use Capital Punishment against individuals who refused to accept God's ways, so that they would not influence others to also go astray.
God wants us to know Him, to understand His ways, and to live our lives according to how He designed this Earth to work. When we build our World on it within the parameters of His ways, then things work for us.
Even when people who don't know or acknowledge God have discovered some of His ways, and done according to them in this World, they have reaped a bountiful amount of prosperity. Because that's how He designed it to work.
How much better for us to actually know the God who made our Earthly home, and live according to His ways that He designed it! We can also enjoy it's bounty, and share it with others, to also gain eternal rewards!
But we cannot tolerate as one of ourselves someone who does not honor God or live according to His Love, and let that evil one influence others to turn away from God. Even if it means removing support that sustains his life.
This person could have died. But we find out in Paul's II Corinthians that he had repented and turned his life around, so they were to take him back. So he didn't die, we have a "happy ending." Their obedience to Paul's injunction actually saved this man's life.
God works like that. When it looks really bleak, that's when God's Light shines. And we are His lights in the World. Light shines brightest in the darkest night.
O my Father, You are so great! You are so good! Your Love for us is so unimaginable to our puny brains, but the evidence of it is undeniable.
O Father, please teach us, teach me, how to love others as You have Loved each one of us! Show us how we can have compassion and mercy on others, even as we take stringent methods to preserve our spiritual health.
Father, strengthen us to trust Your strength in our weakness, to do all the things You have determined we are to do, each moment of each day. Both the things we enjoy doing, and the things we do in obedience to Your ways, knowing that every task, every job, every doing that we do, according to Your will, will bring us eternal rewards.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 4: 10-21
We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ;
Paul is trying to encourage these believers, letting them know their standing in Christ. Even if Paul would seem to be a fool for Christ, yet they are still prudent and wise in Christ.
we are weak, but you are strong;
Though we appear to be weak, remember that you are strong in Christ.
you are distinguished, but we are despised.
You are honored and respected, while we are experiencing disrespect, without honor.
To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;
Paul is still traveling from place to place, on his missionary travels, so he is experiencing deprivation; he sometimes misses a meal or two, his clothes are wearing out, so strangers on the road treat them with no respect. All part and parcel of the kind of traveling people did then.
and we toil, working with our own hands;
He worked with Aquila and Priscilla, as tent-makers, and they supported themselves when they could. He met this couple in Corinth, and they went with him to Ephesus, from where He wrote this letter.
when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
when we are slandered, we try to conciliate;
However people treat him, he tries to respond in a godly way, not react.
we have become the scum of the World, the dregs of all things, even until now.
He just "don't get no respect" lately, as he travels and preaches and lives from day to day. Which is fine with him, as long as he still gets to promote God's Kingdom by preaching the Gospel!
I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
Don't feel sorry for me, just notice how much God has blessed you.
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the Gospel.
Paul is claiming a special place in their hearts, hoping they will take what he says in the spirit in which it is written.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.
He's saying, follow me as I follow Christ. This is how to be.
For this reason I have sent to you Timothy who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
Paul is writing his intent to send Timothy to Corinth, and mentions this again later in the letter. Timothy was saved under Paul, so he considers him his spiritual son, and trusts him to portray him faithfully.
Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power.
Some people there blew off Paul, as though he wouldn't check up on them; but he cares too much to leave them alone, and he wants to come to see if they have any of God's power to do God's work, instead of just talking about it.
For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
God's Word is powerful, but only because it is active and sharp as a double-edged sword. If our words do not have God's power, then they are ineffective in doing His work.
What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
Paul is encouraging them to shape up before he shows up. He doesn't want to have to be hard on them, he's all about encouraging them.
O my Father, thank You so much for all You have done already for all of us! And You are still at work in each one of us, and in the World, pushing along Your plan, letting it unfold moment by moment, day by day, administration by administration.
And helping each one of Your children to do the things You have set before us to do each day, each one a thread in Your grand Tapestry of Time.
Father, thank You for Paul's letters that we can read today and trust that they are Your words for us today, too.
Please be with us, day by day, and teach us to love one one another as You have Loved us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 4: 1-9
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Paul is still going on about how these people have put Apollos and himself on pedestals, as though they were great men. He says, just consider them as slaves, serving Christ, and hired managers over God's secrets that He is now sharing with us.
In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.
So, as God's employee, he wants to be honest and fair with his Employer's goods.
But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.
It isn't at all important what people think of him, it's not for him to even evaluate his own service.
For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.
Paul's conscience is clear, but that doesn't mean he's innocent. He is leaving that evaluation to the Lord.
Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the Time, but wait until the Lord comes
The Time is the Day of the Lord, when Jesus returns and we face His "Bema Seat" to receive whatever rewards He will give us. So don't jump the gun and judge one another now.
who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts;
Only God knows each of us intimately. He alone can assess each one of us according to the whole picture of who we are, how we think, and what we hide from one another.
and then each man's praise will come to him from God.
The "Bema Seat" is not for punishments--God put the wrath that is due us on Jesus on the Cross--but He will reward us for what we have done that will promote His program, and His Kingdom.
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written,
We need to be careful that we never add anything to what God had written in His Word. This is very important. Never approach the Word looking for what you want it to say, only to find out what it really does say. Don't leave anything out, but don't add anything to it, either. It is sufficient.
so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.
Paul says that he and Apollos are just teachers, they work for God, and they should not be compared to each other, as though one would be "better" than the other.
For who regards you as superior?
Who put you in charge?
What do you have that you did not receive?
Isn't what you have a grace-gift from God?
And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
So why are you acting like you're so much better than someone else who also received different grace-gifts from God?
You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.
You Corinthians have already been given such rich gifts from God that you are like kings in God's Kingdom. And Paul is glad of this, and looks forward to reigning alongside them in the Kingdom of God.
For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to Angels and to men.
He thinks that because the Apostles are on display so much, that it's like they're in cages, or in a window, where they are being shown off as a "coming attraction," an exhibition to entertain people and even God's Angels.
We all live in "glass houses" as Christians in the World. People are watching us to see if there really is any difference in trusting God rather than the World.
And Angels are also watching to see how we are using God's power to overcome temptations and sorrows and troubles. They are cheering us on, and moaning when we stumble, as athletic fans do in the stands. Sometimes God may even send one in to referee.
And saints who have gone on before are also in the bleachers, watching us who are still in the "game." They can't do anything else on the field, but we can know that they are there, to encourage us to do our best.
Paul doesn't want these Corinthian saints to lift him up higher than any other saint, because he's just doing what his Boss (Lord) "hired" him to do, just doing his job.
O my Father, please help us all to not think any more of ourselves than we ought, or to compare someone with someone else, to determine who is "better." Help us all to work together, to help one another, and to respect one anothers' differences, realizing that no one person can do everything.
Thank You, Father, for sending us leaders and teachers and pastors and evangelists to help us learn what we can do to help one another to get everything done in fulfilling all Your plans, Father, to usher in Your righteousness in each of our circles of influence, spreading the seed of the Gospel, and finding all of Your lost sheep who are still searching for You.
And when all the lost lambs have been found, and there is One Fold with One Shepherd, then:
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord God Almighty, to the glory of Almighty God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 3: 16-23
Do you not know that you are a Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If you have let Jesus take your place on the Cross, so His Blood has cleansed you completely white as snow.
If any man destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him, for the Temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
Where God dwells is His Temple.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
Our own hearts deceive us, so we must know the Truth and lead our hearts into the Truth. But one who is wise in Worldly things, is foolish.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.
Because God's wisdom is very far above any Worldly wisdom.
For it is written,
He is the one who catches the wise in their own craftiness;
Because He knows all of us, from our atoms out to the ends of the Universe.
and again,
The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.
God made our brains to express what our souls think, and He knows what we are thinking before we even think it.
So then let no one boast in men.
All Mankind are infants in this World, in school, no matter how old they are.
For all things belong to you,
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,
As God's children, we are heirs with Christ of all Creation.
And you belong to Christ,
Because He bought us and redeemed us with His precious Blood.
and Christ belongs to God.
God the Father has authority over God the Son, and God the Son has authority over God the Holy Spirit. And all three Persons are our One God.
And if we could understand that, then we would be God also, which we are not.
O my Father, please help us understand to the best our feeble brains can understand, Your ways You designed this Earth to operate.
Father, help us take care of this Earth, it's the only one we have.
And teach us how You want us to love You back, after You have Loved us first.
And how to love one another, as You have loved us.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord God Almighty, our King, to the glory of God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
