John 3:31
“He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.”
One of the things that got Jesus into the most trouble with the religious leaders of His day was when He would say that He was from above. They did not like it when He would claim that He was not of this world. They completely understood that with that claim He was saying He was the Son of God, which is absolutely true. Because He was not of this world but from above, He did not act like everyone else. He lived above where they lived, but He did not speak to them in a condescending manner. It is interesting that He was from above and did not speak down to man, whereas the religious leaders were of the world and spake down to others. Yet, because Jesus was from above and was above all, He had great influence on the lives of those whose paths He came across.
This world is in desperate need of Christians who come from above. No, we are not deity as Christ is, but we can spend so much time with God in prayer that we are from above. When a Christian is from above, they will have the same characteristics of Christ and that is they will be above all.
First, they will be above all earthly possessions. It is not that we don’t need earthly possessions, but those from above will not wrap their lives in earthly possessions. The verse above clearly shows that those who are of the earth are “earthly.” When you are from above, your desires will be from above.
Second, they will be above all earthly talk. Again, those of the earth will speak “of the earth.” When you are from above, you will not talk like the world. When you are from above, your manner of conversation will resemble a heavenly talk. Christian, you are above the worldly filthy jokes, words and conversations. People should know you are from above by the way you speak.
Third, those from above will be above the worldly lifestyle. John 8:23 shows that those from above will not be “of this world.” In other words, your lifestyle will be different. You will not want to live or look like the world. When you are from above, your lifestyle will resemble a heavenly lifestyle.
Friend, are you above all the foolishness in this world? Are you above the pettiness, gossip, worldly living, worldly talk and worldly desires of possessions? If you come from above, your life will not be about things in this world, but they will be about things from above. You will be amazed when you are from above how little a desire you will have for the things of this world. The lure of the world will be so little when you are from above.
The only way you are going to live above all is that you must come from above. In other words, you must spend so much time in the Scriptures and in prayer that your life will resemble that you came from above. If you dwell in the secret place of God, then your life will be above all the rhetoric of this world. This world needs Christians who are from above and live above all. That life that is from above is the only life that will change the lives of those around them.