Unfurl your colors

The idea of wearing battle colours or war paint extends far back into history. The red Indians dubbed stripes on their faces when they went into battle, to embolden each other, intimidate the enemy and display their commitment to victory. The Vikings also wore battle paint, as did the Normans. Both of those invasive forces influenced warriors like the Scots, whom Mel Gibson so ably depicted in Braveheart. Mediaeval battlefields also used war paint until the idea of uniformed forces was popularised.

Uniforms and flags enabled fighting forces to carry their colours and allegiances in a more formal way. Discipline and pride rejected the relatively untidy look of face paint, but time would expose such visible uniforms to real disadvantages. Perhaps it was the Anglo-Boer war at the turn of the last century that convinced England to move towards mufti, the kind of battle dress that now dominates all battlefields.

Camouflage and sensibility became more important than bright, bold and visible battle dress. However, the advent of camouflage also saw the return of body paint - only this time they used mud or boot polish, which is designed to make soldiers less visible.

So now the only time that opposing nations don war paint and wave bright colours in the face of their opponents, is on the sports field.

That said, 2 Corinthians 3 says we are the epistles of Christ, read and known of all men. The implication is that God’s children have yet to shift to contemporary styles of battledress. Our allegiance is not meant to be covered or obscured and it is hard to suppress a vital testimony. Believers are, or should be, vividly alive, the salt of the earth, the sweet fragrance of Christ, living witnesses to the truth, light in the dark soldiers who unfurl the banners of God wherever they go.

Our weapons are not swords and shields, per se, although we are spiritually equipped to fight our fight, for the weapons of God are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. That is where we engage, tearing down the very things that hold people captive and rob them of life – and that is not a mere battle - it is a war, a war that demands that we nail our colours to the mast and boldly bear His witness into a dying world.

(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net