Episode 28
DON’T TALK LIKE THOSE OF THE WORLD
(Speak The Language Of The Kingdom)
Monday, 28 September
TO THE BIBLE – John 8:23
“And He said to them, ‘You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.’”
Monday morning brought the usual noise back into the hallways.
A few comments drifted near the lockers—nothing sharp enough to confront, but familiar enough to test the atmosphere. Someone mentioned how “some people still talk like they’re above everything.” A short laugh followed. Tyler wasn’t even the one who said it this time, yet the undercurrent was still alive.
Jordan caught the tone and felt the old pull to shrink his words, to sound more careful, more normal.
At lunch he sat down across from Maya and exhaled.
“It’s easy to slip back into their language,” he said. “The careful version. The one that doesn’t sound too sure. Especially when people are still watching. Part of me wants to tone it down so it doesn’t look like we’re trying to be different on purpose.”
Maya set her bottle down. “That’s exactly why Jesus stood out. He spoke a spiritual language while everyone else was stuck in the language of the senses. When He said, ‘I am from above,’ they couldn’t understand Him. But He didn’t adjust. And the Bible says as He is, so are we in this world. We’ve been born of the same incorruptible Word. Our life didn’t originate here. So we don’t get to keep talking like people who are still from beneath.”
Jordan frowned slightly. “So we just keep sounding… extra?”
“We keep sounding accurate,” Maya answered. “Refuse the small confessions. ‘I’m not good enough.’ ‘I’m not sure this will work.’ ‘I’m always anxious about what they think.’ That’s not the language of someone from above. Sickness, lack, failure, fear—they don’t belong in our mouth because they don’t belong in our kingdom. People may think we’re boastful, the same way they thought Jesus was. That shouldn’t change the confession.”
She glanced across the cafeteria. Tyler sat with his usual group. No direct look. No new challenge. Just the lingering sense that the old atmosphere still tested the edges.
“We’ve learned to give, to grow, to carry the Kingdom, to filter what gets in,” Maya continued. “Now we have to sound like where we’re actually from. Everywhere—classrooms, group chats, hallways, social media. The language has to match the life.”
Jordan was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded once.
“Okay. Before I speak about anything today, I’ll check it. Would someone from above talk like this? If not, I upgrade the language.”
Maya smiled slightly. “That’s the practice. We don’t talk like those of the world. We speak the language of the Kingdom we’re from.”
The lunch period moved on. The social undercurrent remained unfinished. Other voices still carried the smaller, heavier words. But between Maya and Jordan, the standard had been raised again.
They were from above.
And it was time their mouths agreed.
ACT
Before speaking about a situation today, ask: “Would someone from above talk like this?” If not, upgrade your language.
