Lift Up the Banner of Love

When the children of Israel set up camp in the wilderness, the tabernacle was placed in the middle and the twelve tribes camped on each of the four sides (three tribes per side). Numbers 2:2 says, "Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard." Standards (flags, banners, etc.) often included colors or drawings that represented families and tribes. They showed where the family or tribe was to camp and what that tribe stood for.

In battle times, flags boosted morale and showed the troops where to gather. In the intensity of a fight (before the time of radios), vocal commands and bugle calls might not be heard. The soldiers were trained to follow the flag. Being a flag bearer was a high honor and dangerous! Often soldiers were assigned to protect them. The flag bearer could not turn and run from the battle in fear, for the army was following that flag!

Today's verse tells us that God's banner over us is "love." That is what drew us to Him. He loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for our sins. Yet, what is a banner or a flag without a standard bearer? God needs His people to CARRY that banner of love, showing a lost world where there is hope and that God is a God of love. When life gets hard and trials come, we are tempted to flee, but who will be lost if we (as flag bearers), turn and run? It is a great honor and privilege to carry the banner for Christ! God will protect us. Let us stand true and lift up the banner of Christ. There are so many who need to see it.

I'm my Beloved's and He is mine;
His banner over me is love.
— Unknown