Episode 9
CARNAL OR SPIRITUAL?
(Discover the Difference and Grow in God)
Wednesday, 9 September
TO THE BIBLE – 1 Corinthians 3:1
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.”
Tyler was already waiting when Maya and Jordan reached the library steps. Two other guys from the class stood with him. The air felt charged, the kind of quiet that comes right before something breaks.
Tyler didn’t waste time. “So. The project was a fluke. The quiet act is over. You ready to admit this whole ‘faith’ thing is just a phase, or are we still pretending?”
One of the guys beside him smirked. Another checked his phone, already filming.
Jordan’s shoulders tensed. Maya felt the familiar pull—the urge to match the tone, to defend, to push back with the same energy. It would have been easy. It would also have been carnal.
She remembered the verse from that morning. There were two kinds of responses available in moments like this: the one that behaved like everyone else, and the one regulated by the Word.
Jordan spoke first. His voice was steady, not loud.
“We’re not here to fight you, Tyler. And we’re not pretending. What happened with the project wasn’t luck. We’re not going to stand here and trade insults either.”
Tyler’s expression flickered. He had clearly expected pushback, sarcasm, or at least visible anger. The absence of it seemed to throw him off for a second.
“So what then?” he asked. “You’re just better than us now?”
Maya answered before the moment could turn. “No. We’re just choosing differently. There’s a difference between reacting like everyone else and responding from the Word. Envy, strife, trying to pull people down—that’s the old way. We’re not staying there.”
The guy holding the phone lowered it slightly. The other one looked away. Tyler still stood his ground, but the edge in his voice had dulled.
“You think talking like that changes anything?” he said.
“It changes us,” Jordan replied. “That’s the point.”
For a few seconds no one moved. Then Tyler shook his head, muttered something under his breath, and walked off with the others. The confrontation that had been building for days ended without a single raised voice or harsh exchange.
Maya and Jordan stood on the steps a little longer as the library doors opened and closed behind students who had no idea what had just been avoided.
Jordan exhaled. “That felt… different. I wanted to snap back. A lot.”
“I know,” Maya said. “That was the carnal option. Easy. Familiar. But it wouldn’t have built anything. The spiritual response is the one that stays under the Word even when the pressure is right in your face.”
They walked back toward the main building in silence for a while. The public challenge was over. The filming hadn’t turned into a scene. Yet both of them knew this wasn’t the final word from Tyler or from the wider circle that had been watching.
The difference had been made clear in real time: one path stayed at the level of strife and reaction. The other refused to remain a babe there.
Growth had required a choice. They had made it. The next test would come soon enough.
ACT
Pay attention to your words and actions today—online and offline. If something you’re about to say or do doesn’t reflect the standpoint of God’s Word, pause and choose the response that honours Him instead.
