08 Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the eighth talk in my series on the fruit of the spirit. Today we'll be talking about goodness because we'll also be looking at its opposite. This talk may not be appropriate for young listeners. Parents, if you're listening with children nearby, you may want to hit pause and come back later. Thanks for joining me. Well, in this series, we are searching for an understanding of these ideas that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit. Today we'll be talking about goodness and we're exploring Scripture to see what Scripture says about these concepts and therefore what Paul had in mind when he wrote the list. I have been arguing throughout this series that the items on this list are not feelings we are given, rather they are qualities that result from a profound shift in worldview. As the Spirit of God teaches us truth, our perspective changes, and that changes how we choose to act, respond, and treat each other, and these qualities result. As always, for those of you just joining us, let me remind you of the context in Galatians where we find this list. In the letter to Galatians, Paul refutes the argument of the Judaizers. The Judaizers claim that it's not enough to believe in Jesus. That's a good starting point, but they argue Gentile believers must also keep the law. Paul spends most of his time in this letter refuting that claim and arguing that faith in Jesus is sufficient for salvation. In chapter 5, where we find this list, Paul is arguing that law-keeping does not really accomplish what it claims to accomplish. Law-keeping cannot make a person more holy or good because it doesn't change anything about who we are inside. We may now strive to keep more laws than we used to, but inside we are still sinners. Conversely, Paul argues that true moral transformation or genuine change comes about because of the Spirit of God. God can reconcile us to himself because of Christ's death on the cross. After we have been reconciled, he gives us his spirit, and his spirit teaches us truth and strengthens our faith and brings about this true, genuine change. And the things on this list result. And in this series, we are on a quest to figure out what those things are. Today we're talking about goodness. This is a fairly simple idea. You can just think of the contrast between good and evil. That's what he's emphasizing here when he talks about goodness. But he is not talking about a vague sort of being nice to people. Instead, goodness is the pursuit of that which is right and holy and good as opposed to pursuing that which is evil, corrupt, and against God. That's the concept we're dealing with here. We're going to spend most of our time today on one passage in Ephesians 5. We'll be spending quite a bit of time on it, but remember our purpose is to understand what Paul has in mind when he talks about goodness. Keep that in the back of your mind. That's where we're heading, and we will get there, but I need to explain some things first. In this part of Ephesians, Paul is exhorting his readers to live in keeping with what they say they believe. So they claim to believe the gospel. This is how their lives should look, and he's exploring the implications of the gospel for the way they live. We're going to start in Ephesians chapter five verses one through four. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk, nor crude joking which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. First, let's not be thrown off by this word saints, when he says in 5 3 as proper among the saints. In New Testament usage, the word saint does not refer to people like Mother Teresa or all the people who've been named as saints in church history. The word saints means those who belong to God or holy ones. Saints are those people who are set apart from the world as belonging to God. In New Testament usage, every believer is a saint or a holy one in the sense that we are part of God's people. Instead, we are marked out as belonging to God. We are set apart because he has accepted us. But we are not just holy because God says we belong to him. Once we belong to him, our lives change. We start living out the truths we believe, and that lifestyle change also sets us apart. Believers live differently, act differently, think differently, and talk differently than those who reject God. We are guided by different values and different principles. We seek what God says is right, and that marks us as saints or holy ones. When Paul says this certain way of living is proper for saints, that's the kind of thing he's getting at. Are we in fact conducting ourselves as if we believe the gospel is true? When he says in 5.4, avoid filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking, he's telling us that kind of talk does not fit with pursuing the things of God. As followers of Christ, we claim to believe a certain set of truths. Those truths are not optional. Claiming to believe them is not enough. We must live our lives as if they are true. We must act on our beliefs. And in this section, Paul is encouraging his readers to conduct themselves in keeping with what they believe. That's the issue he's exploring. Now he mentions three things here. First of all, in 5.3, immorality. One of the things he says should not be named among believers is sexual immorality. That's what this word means. Now historically, we Christians have gotten the reputation of being against sexuality. We have been charged with thinking that all sexuality is a bad thing, and thinking and believing that no godly person would have anything to do with sexuality under any circumstances. That is not the Bible's perspective. God created sexuality, God created marriage, he intended for men and women to join in marriage, and sexuality is very much a part of marriage. It's a wonderful gift. When Paul speaks against sexual immorality here, he's not speaking against sexuality in all contexts. The problem, of course, is sexuality is a powerful force, and we human beings are selfish and sinful. Sexuality is a powerful pleasure. The desires that drive us are strong, and the pleasures that result are strong, which means that we self-centered human beings are powerfully motivated to pursue it even when we shouldn't. But if we seek to follow and obey God, then we must acknowledge that God has the right to establish boundaries for sexuality. The Bible teaches that God created sexuality to be a gift in marriage between one man and one woman, and we are not to contradict him. Now there's a lot we could talk about here, but for our purposes today I want to focus on two aspects. First, sexuality is meant to be a God-given language by which a husband and wife express their lifelong commitment to each other. God created sexuality with a specific meaning and intended for a specific purpose. He intended it to express a permanent, committed, monogamous bond between a husband and wife. Inherently, sexuality contains a promise, a uniqueness. It says we belong to each other. We are committed to sharing our lives together. Second, sexuality is a God-given means by which children come into the world. You have to be pretty dense not to notice that children and sexuality go together. And God designed it that way. Now as sinners, we want to pursue things that are very pleasurable, and so we decide to remove all the limits. We seek the pleasure of sexuality without acknowledging the commitment inherent in it. We deny that it involves any expression of lifelong faithfulness, and we want to maintain that sexuality is just a natural, almost animal instinct, and we are free to do whatever we want, whenever we want, because that's the way we want it. And we want to separate sexuality from procreation because, of course, children can be inconvenient and they represent a lifelong commitment in and of themselves. So we selfish human beings would like to be able to pursue the pleasure without reaping the consequences. It's pretty easy to understand how we end up wanting sexuality to be devoid of commitment and the possibility of procreation, so we end up denying that sexual purity has anything to do with goodness. I would argue that modern culture, especially in America, has essentially turned this upside down. What you think about sexuality is a significant battle in our culture right now. Many people defined the good people as those who defend abortion, those who make contraceptives available to school children, and those who embrace homosexuality and almost any expression of sexuality in any circumstance as a valid lifestyle choice. Those who would vote for any boundaries or limits are seen as evil. Sexuality is one of those areas where we believers should be distinctive. Followers of Jesus believe we are made in the image of God. We are not just animals who act purely on instinct. We have the ability to decide what's appropriate and what's not. Our moral sense is one of the things that sets us apart from animals, and we can see the beautiful purpose God gave to sexuality and choose to follow his guidelines, boundaries, and limits. One of the things that will set us apart is acknowledging that God created us and that he created sexuality for a certain purpose. Next in Ephesians 5.3 is uncleanness or impurity. It's the opposite of holiness. Anything which defiles, degrades, or stains is involved in this word. It's a broader idea than sexual immorality. It includes anything that defiles, any sort of acceptance of evil, any sort of acting as if I am the most important thing in creation. It would include lying, stealing, cheating, degrading other people, indulging in hate, all the big and little ways we act on our selfishness. All of those things that actually reveal that we are sinful and corrupt, and not the kind of people we should be are included in this word uncleanness or impurity. When we talk about worldliness or the world in the Bible, what we're talking about is the kind of lifestyle that seems right to those who reject God. The worldly focus on trying to get everything we can here and now and to live as if this creation is everything and there is no judgment coming, there is no tomorrow. We are to avoid that kind of living. We are to avoid living as selfish, self-centered creatures. That's a little vague because, as I understand it, this term is very broad. It covers just about every which way we can pursue what is wrong. The third thing he mentions here is greed or covetousness, the idea that I must have more stuff and I must have your stuff. In 5.5, Paul calls the one who is covetous and idolater, which is a very common biblical theme, one we really need to understand. The greedy or covetous person must acquire more stuff, more power, more status, more of what the world has to offer. The greedy one thinks the most important factor in any equation is how do I win? How do I benefit here? How do I get more of what this life has to offer? Because the greedy person or the covetous person thinks all the things of this world are what makes life fulfilling. Now, how is that idolatry? Well, think about the ancient nation of Israel. The Lord said to them, I will be your God and you will be my people. I will protect you and defend you, I will sustain you and give you life. Put your trust in me and I will give you blessing. But then the ancient Israelites looked around and said, You know what? Our neighbors are all worshiping other gods like Baal. We're living in territory that used to be Baal's. Maybe we should keep Baal happy too, because you never know what might happen if we get Baal mad at us. Idolatry is that kind of trying to have it both ways. Okay, I trust God is there and I understand He's made these promises, but just in case those promises don't pan out, I'm gonna bet on this other God too. I acknowledge God's there, but the world persuades me, you know, you've got to have this worldly stuff in order to make life good. And I don't really want to miss out on that. I don't want to say no to that. I'm not willing to really put all my trust in God. I want to diversify a little bit. That's idolatry. I have set up an idol. I am counting on someone other than God. Greed is a kind of idolatry. Idolatry says, God is not enough. I must have what the world offers now. God's promises for the future aren't enough. And so I'm gonna seek this other stuff. And greed says the same thing. God is not enough. I have to have that over there. I can't trust Him to take care of me. I have to take matters into my own hands and try to get that stuff. I might not have enough wealth now or enough power now or enough status. And I really want those things because, you know, they seem more important than the promises of God. God's promises are fine and all, but everybody knows you have to have fame, fortune, and prosperity, so I'd better make sure I get it. Well, that's greed and coveting, and that's idolatry. Like sexuality, coveting is one of those touchstone issues that confront us with the question, what is really important to me? And who do I think is going to give it to me? What am I hoping for? Am I trusting in the promises of God or am I counting on something else? What am I looking for to make my life truly meaningful and satisfactory? Am I counting on the promises of God or all the things that I can get in this world? Jesus said, you can gain the whole world and lose your soul, and then you've lost everything. And that's the whole point here. What would I gain if I could have all the good things in the world, all the prosperity, beauty, intelligence, fame, fortune, status, power, everything this world has to offer. But what good is that going to do me on judgment day? If I believe the gospel is true and I'm counting on the promises of God, then all the stuff of this world doesn't really dazzle me like it used to. I recognize it's a counterfeit blessing and it's going to burn in the end. And I become willing to do without something in this life to gain a place in the kingdom of heaven. Those are the qualities that Paul talks about immorality, impurity, and covetousness. And he says those things should not even be named among followers of Jesus. Now he's not saying that we shouldn't talk about them ever, that we can't acknowledge that they exist or explain what they are. If that's what he meant, he would be violating his own exhortation by mentioning them in this letter. Paul often writes about evil and talks about it in some detail so that we understand what's going on and why we should avoid it. He's not saying just pretend these three things aren't there. We don't ever want to talk about them. That's not what he means. He's contrasting the way believers view these things with the way the world views these things. Those who reject God talk about these things and act as if they are good or neutral. And Paul's saying, don't go there. His exhortation is not to fall into this trap. You may successfully refrain from acting on those impulses, and you might keep yourself pure in that sense, but then what do you talk about? What does your mouth reveal about what you value and what you think is true? That's the issue that Paul's exploring here. Of course, it matters what you do, but his point in this section is it also matters what you say. Our speech reveals what we value, what we believe, and what we think is ultimately worth pursuing. Maybe you refrain from adultery, but you indulge in off-collar jokes or degrading talk at the office. And Paul is warning, don't go there. Don't talk in a way that indulges, glorifies, or idolizes this stuff. Notice 5.4 continues the talking theme. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking which are out of place. Instead, let there be thanksgiving. Now we could trivialize this verse by turning it simply into an injunction. Don't swear, don't use foul language. Instead, go around and say things like bless the Lord and thank you, Lord. I don't think that's what he's getting at. Paul explores gratitude in many of his letters. Gratitude is based on understanding what God has done for us. Gratitude stems from the knowledge that what God has promised is worthwhile and can be counted on. I don't deserve his mercy or his grace, but he will give it to me because of the blood of Christ. What am I grateful for ultimately? I'm grateful that I am a creature of God. I'm grateful that he reached out to save me. I'm grateful that I can't lose eternal life because of what Christ did for me on the cross. My destiny has been determined. The power that created the universe is now working in my life and in my circumstances to bring me great blessings. I am on a journey toward eternal life in the kingdom of heaven, and that's a lot to be grateful for. Firmly standing on those truths has a profound impact on the way I think about life now. When we really see what God has done for us and are grateful that He is doing it, why would we want to indulge in or pursue the dirty, the profane, the immoral, or the foolish? I'm counting on God to save me from that kind of thing. Why would I talk about it now as if it were cool and worthwhile? That kind of stuff gives me nothing worthwhile. I no longer consider that kind of talk or those actions fun or valuable. Instead, I know what God has done for me, I know that is valuable, and I'm grateful. So Paul is contrasting a thoughtless, foolish, blind sort of going along with the way the world talks and thinks about things with an actual, faithful, godly view of life. We've chosen to follow God instead of the world. We've embraced a set of beliefs that we call the gospel. We've understood where life is to be found, and it's not found in filthiness and foolishness. We should have no interest in following the world because we have seen there is a better path and we are grateful for it. Once again, the issue is not a surface issue of just watch what you say. It's more profoundly remember what you think is true and let that influence the way you talk. Let's go on to Ephesians 5, verses 5 and 6. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Whenever Paul uses that kind of strong language, it can make us Nervous because if we're honest with ourselves, we recognize that none of us can claim that our life is completely free from immorality, impurity, and greed, just to name the big three he's got here. The fact is, all of us struggle with all those things, plus many more. It can sound devastating when Paul says that the immoral, impure, and covetous have no place in the kingdom of God because it sounds like he's saying, Well, you and I have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. This is where we want to interpret the verse in context and pay attention to the way Paul talks about these things. Paul says a lot about how we are to live out our lives now and how we work through the process of our sanctification. Remember, he wrote Romans 7 as well. Paul never describes the Christian as one who automatically and necessarily ceases to struggle with sin. Instead, he says, look at the general trend of a believer's life. Watch where they are going over time. Everyone will fail in their struggle with sin on any given day or at any given moment. But what characterizes the struggle? Is it characterized by grief and repentance, by sorrow and seeking God, or is it characterized by laughing, scoffing, and mocking God? Immorality, impurity, and covetousness characterize the people who reject God. These things mark the direction of their lives, and the wrath of God will fall upon those things. Those who invest their life in these things are going to be lost in the end, they will gain nothing eternal from them, and their words are empty and foolish. And Paul is saying, Why would you want to follow that path? Now, we are all tempted to follow them at times. There is always the social pressure to fit in with the so-called sophisticated, hip, enlightened people of the world. We all feel the pressure to fit in and not stand out. Say you're standing around the coffee pot at work and someone says something that implies immorality or impurity or a crude joke or something like that, and you find a way to say something that makes you sound like you fit in because you don't want to stand out. But the fact is we should stand out. We're not one of the gang. There are many issues in modern society where we as believers take the opposite side. Paul is exhorting us here to confront the reality of what we claim we believe. The gospel is true and it makes a difference. What he's saying here is not that you will only go to heaven if you're perfect, he's saying belief makes you different. You will stick out at times because faith requires you to embrace the goodness of God and pursue it. Life is going to repeatedly confront you with that choice to pursue goodness or to reject it. Don't be deceived, there's no middle ground. You don't get to have a foot in each world. The wrath of God will fall upon those who reject him. Don't be deceived by those who tell you, oh, a little greed, a little immorality, that's no big deal. You can have that and still follow God. That's not the way it works. Then he concludes, this is Ephesians 5 7 through ten, therefore do not become partakers with them, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light, for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. So now he brings this full circle. He's been saying, Don't talk about it. Now he says, Don't participate in it either. Don't join the world and it's folly. He uses this image of light. The world is in the dark. They reach their conclusions about sexuality and impurity and coveting because they're in the dark. They're ignorant of the truth. They don't see reality. Their understanding goes no further than what their body tells them is right at the moment. They don't see God's purposes, they don't value the gifts He has given them. Their views result from ignorance and foolishness, and they are blind to the truth. And Paul summarizes all of that with this metaphor, they are in darkness. But we are in the light. By the grace of God, we understand reality. We understand sexuality is a great gift, but there are bigger issues than sexuality in this life. And we are coming to understand what those are. We were once like them. We were once lost in our foolish darkness, but God shined the light of truth into our eyes and our minds, and now we understand. And his exhortation is don't go back to the darkness. Let me read nine and ten again. For the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. And finally, we've come to the reason I brought us to this passage. To me, this is one of the most striking examples of the use of this word good or goodness in Paul's letters. The fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. What's the opposite of the darkness that he's been describing? He's been describing the immorality, the impurity, the greed, the foolishness. What's the opposite? Goodness, righteousness, and truth. From this context, you can see that goodness is not a quality of being nice to people. Goodness is pursuing that which is fitting and appropriate and right and holy. Goodness rejects the lie that there is no God and that his standards don't mean anything. Goodness rejects the lie that fulfillment is to be found in whatever my body tells me is fulfilling. Goodness sees the truth that I am a creature of God. God is my creator and it means something to follow him. Following him means rejecting the lie of a selfish, self-centered worldview and embracing the truth. Goodness involves a rejection of evil. Because we are now children of light and we can walk in the light, we are learning what is pleasing to the Lord and we pursue it. And you can see this is one of those places where Paul doesn't see us as perfect just because we've been saved. Instead, he sees us as those whose eyes have been opened. We can see and understand that God is there, that he has revealed himself in Scripture and in Jesus Christ, and that there is a bigger picture going on than just what my feelings or my desires or wants tell me. There is something I need to learn, and now I want to learn it because I've seen the light. And so we're trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Then he says in 11 and 12, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. Again, he doesn't mean we should never talk about what evil does. Let's draw a curtain and pretend that doesn't exist and never talk about it. That's not what he's saying. The contrast he's making is don't think just because you're not participating with them and actually doing a certain activity that it's okay to participate by speaking about that activity or talking as if it's right and good and funny. If you join the world and talking as if these things are valuable or hip or good, you're participating. It's disgraceful to talk about such things and make them part of your vocabulary the way the world around you does. Instead of going along with it and talking about it as if, oh well, that's just the way things are. We're to expose it to the light. We're to show it for what it is and to speak the truth in love, to shine the light on it and say, look what we're really dealing with here. Now we need to understand that the world around us sees this kind of goodness as laughable. We constantly get the message from the media that life is much more fun if we would just abandon those old-fashioned religious ideas of what's right and wrong and what's good. They view goodness as something that hampers us, and we can't really experience life until we slip free of its bonds. But Paul pictures goodness as a light in the darkness. Sin is a perversion of life. Immorality is a lie. Sexual immorality is not fulfillment, it's a counterfeit idol. Sin always leads to some form of death or corruption. All the indulgences of the darkness are killing us now and will destroy us eternally apart from the grace of God. The deeds of darkness lie about who we are and who God is. They lie about the supposed freedom that sin brings, and they lie about the supposed lack of consequences. Life and blessing do not result from lies. Lies kill, lies destroy. Greed is a lie, immorality is a lie, and idolatry is a death trap. So we need to understand how the world understands goodness and how they're going to find our concept laughable. But when the world occasionally does embrace a concept of goodness, it's usually a very pale imitation of the biblical idea. In modern America, we've developed a system of goodness based on oppressors and the oppressed. We categorize people into two groups, the oppressors and the victims of the oppressors. In this view, there is no right or wrong, there is only trauma. The oppressor, who is usually defined by their race and gender rather than any particular actions they have taken, are always evil no matter what. Victims are only evil because of past trauma they have experienced as victims, and victims are seen as justified in mistreating their oppressors. In this view, I can see myself as good if I can find a way to classify myself as a victim, or if I vote for politicians who claim that they will help the victims. That is not a biblical worldview. When it comes to standing before God, there are no oppressors or oppressed, slaves are free, Jews or Gentile. Every one of us is a sinner in need of the mercy of God. Being an oppressed victim does not make you good. Being an oppressor does not disqualify you from receiving God's mercy and forgiveness. Neither victim status nor perceived trauma qualify me as good. Goodness as a fruit of the Spirit is pursuing the things of God because the light of truth broke through my darkness and exposed the foolish way I had been living. The light of truth shows me I am a creature made in the image of God who can make moral decisions. God has the right to tell me the purpose for which he made me, and I will find true joy and fulfillment in following his purposes. Fulfillment comes from living according to the truth and rejecting the lies of those who walk in darkness. Goodness in the biblical sense is rooted in this profound shift of understanding what is true and what is a lie. Finally, not only does the world around us often have a pale imitation of goodness, sometimes we in the church can have a pale imitation of goodness as well. And we can see it in what Paul says to the Galatians. In this letter, Paul addresses legalists. They saw themselves as having earned God's favor by keeping the Old Testament law, and they thought that keeping all the rules made them good. We can similarly deceive ourselves into thinking that we are good by setting the bar for obedience really low. If I can minimize or reduce my definition of goodness, then I can convince myself and I can convince others that I have reached that standard and I'm a good person. But the fact is the kind of goodness that we're called to is profound and far-reaching. And if we're honest, all of us recognize that we fall far short of it, including believers. The difference is believers are not trying to minimize goodness. We're not trying to pretend that it is something that it isn't. We are depending on God's grace and the work of His Spirit to make us good, not our own self-effort and not law-keeping. The so-called goodness of the legalist is self-righteousness, it's self-satisfaction. And the world can rightly criticize the church as hypocritical for that kind of goodness. But goodness as a fruit of the Spirit is not self-satisfaction, it's not legalism, it's not self-righteousness, and it's not succeeding in following a ridiculously low standard. It is the acknowledgement that God is holy, just, and morally perfect. It is the acknowledgement that I am a sinner. I am not wholly, just or morally perfect, and I need God's mercy, and I am committed to living in light of those truths. Earlier in Ephesians, Paul said that we're not justified by works. Our own accomplishments do not make us right before God. We are justified through what Christ did on the cross. And what's the result of that? We don't bring good works to him, hoping to gain his blessing. Rather, God blesses us by making us the kind of people who can perform good works. We are his workmanship. He saves us through the blood of Christ and then grants us his spirit to teach us truth and bring us into goodness. I would argue that these good works that we are given that are a fruit of the spirit are not good works in the sense of we might feed the poor or care for the sick. Those are great things to do. But I think goodness and good works as a fruit of the spirit is a more expansive and profound idea. We are created for doing things which are in keeping with goodness in the fullest sense of the word. The fact that in our lives, you might actually see the beginnings of this distinctiveness from the world. You might see that we are actually valuing what is good and pursuing those things. That is a work of the Spirit. The Spirit has brought us into the light, given us faith, taught us these truths, and we are learning now how to live in ways that are pleasing to the Lord. The Spirit of God is at work showing us the truth, convicting us of the reality of our faith and the truths that we have embraced. And in doing so, we become committed to the idea that goodness, following the ways of God, is a valuable thing. We are pursuing that. Goodness is becoming an aspect of our lives. Not that in this age we will always say and do everything right, but that now we value and we strive for things that please God. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to explain not only what a passage means, but how we figure it out. The blog post version of this podcast is at WednesdayInTheWord.com slash fruit dash spirit dash goodness. I don't accept advertising on my website, nor do I ask for donations. Your subscriptions and your positive ratings and reviews are the advertising for this show, so please leave a positive rating or review on your favorite podcast app, or drop me an email. It really encourages me to hear from you. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can find his music on heartfeltmusic.org. If you'd like to explore this topic more or hear all the previous episodes in this series, please go to Wednesdayintheword.com. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.