Today I’d like to pontificate on the natural union between corporate (as in the body of Christ) and Kingdom (as in The Kingdom of God) living.

I want to be clear that my next statement is interpretive; I do not aim to be authoritative about something we’ve no chance to understand: All sin is borne of the womb of selfishness.  In other words, The Kingdom itself as it’s been set up by Our Father, has not been designed in order for one to be vested in self-interest (at all). This is so simple it will ostensibly strike some of my readers as obvious, but it’s important to remember the difference between easy and simple. By now you may have said to yourself ‘then why do we sin, if all we have to do is understand we are not alone’. This is an extremely difficult concept for us as human beings to manifest, as even those of us who have a secular experience with altruism and those of us who have answered God’s call still (and will always) fall short of achieving God’s vision for us in this way. This is one example of God himself being in enmity with the way the world thinks.

Generally speaking, there is an “everybody has a price” aspect to nature here on planet Earth. All manner of beast and man, have a point where they will look after themselves alone, save some notable examples such as in the Bee Kingdom. For the most part, nature would say that even with interests in progeny and gene preservation (such as with cousins) we are highly narrow in our willingness towards self-sacrifice under extreme conditions.

This disposition is so deeply imbedded in us that we, through great tribulation, continually fail to accept that we as Christians are part of a Body whereas, certain behaviors and personal attributes are unacceptable. All the while, God is preparing us to live forever in harmony with his and the heavenly spirits of our other members forever (and all of it gathered unto Himself). This requires a significant if not total breakdown of spiritual boundaries. Keenly, with God himself.

This topic is serious enough that it appears to be referenced, in regard to The Holy Communion in 1 Corinthians 11:29-30: 

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. (KJV)

It could be interpreted that God would bring you unto him early or augment a person’s temple rather than allow the integrity of The Body of Christ to be disrupted. The “eaters” are Christian so this (and everything allowed to be done towards us) is done out of Love and safety of course but the gravity cannot be overstated, as well as the gravity of sin being what it is; all will find their way back to Sin at some point (but hopefully not a sin unto death which we can absolutely avoid as stated in John 8:11). Above all of this, the Love of The Father Towards Jesus cannot be overstated, however we can rejoice of course because this love is extended to us in its intended expression as adopted sons and daughters; His beloved son was sent to die for us.

When we are called to rejoice, we can truly rejoice in The Lord because surely with the above stated points he is manifesting a great purpose for all involved. This next statement is not an indictment or criticism, but much of The Church and many sermons are geared towards “your” breakthrough and “your” blessing when 1. As a Christian, we are already blessed beyond any earthly measure and 2. This blessing is not meant for us to enjoy on our own. Most of us get this far but to go further is to enter further into the Kingdom, being that every last purpose for us serves The Kingdom in some way. We get the benefit of this gift of life and happiness in the form of Joy. It is sacred so I wouldn’t call it merely a “bi-product” but to fully appreciate what we get just by serving him and more specifically his Kingdom (beginning with our very soul being saved) is impossible. Therefore, our thanks and praise will live forever through His Glory.

It would be safe(er) to say that Kingdom living begins with a dashing away of all selfishness wherever possible and to consider the glass walls of New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:18) and understand that the goal is to be the same on the inside as the outside of ourselves, no spiritual boundaries. This works with the modifier “spiritual” because objectively (on Earth), I won’t tell you my credit card information no matter how Christ-like you are (of course barring the understanding between the communal aspect of the early Church; I believe God in his progressiveness sent us in this age to grow and manifest Heaven as much as possible with consideration for where we are in the life of this world). But spiritually, I’ve learned that to hear and know that God sees all is a completely different thing than it is to live this way, allowing yourself to be judged by no one which encourages a person to lie. In other words, it’s important to remember we are not from here. It’s sufficive to point to John 17:11 where Jesus prayed for us to be in this world but not of this world, but if He knew us before we were formed in the womb (Jeremiah 1:4-5) then we really, really aren’t. Not that I fully understand, but I would safely pronounce it in this way in my belief.

As well, our main objective is to be the vessels of Heaven’s invasion of Earth and this has nothing to do with the current state of affairs, except that we do live in the world and are to treat every man a brother, while we are brought up with tares that try to strangle us. We are appointed to work along with the secular world in many regards but our objective is meant to set up The Kingdom on Earth, a purpose for which we have been expressly set apart, ordained and blessed to be a part of. Praise God.

For now, take care.

Gregory Longmore, LMHC is an online-only Christian Professional Mental Health therapist based in NYC.