Whose Banner is Flying?

This is just an observation I’ve made, please tell me if I’m wrong: in every one of us, there is an innate urge to fight to be the best we can be, to climb up the ladder out of the shadows and bask in the sunshine so we have a tan to display as a badge of honor when we are knocked off the top rung and fall back down to planet earth. But when I step back and look at all this, it makes me think of a bunch of kids in the candy store fighting for the last piece of chocolate; then I wonder, isn’t there something higher to fight for, something that would make a difference in eternity?

When I fight for myself and my rights, I am being shortsighted and selfish; but when I fight under God’s banner and His fame and renown are my focus, I am fighting for something of eternal value. When I fly my own colors, I am consumed by achieving my comfort and my status, and my idea of what is best for myself and the people I love is skewed; but when I fight in God’s army, the things I do will have eternal value as I become more concerned with God’s name getting glory it deserves, and I will want God’s best for myself and the people I love. What makes all the difference is who I am serving; myself, or the God Who loved me enough to give up everything to offer me eternal life with Him in Heaven.

When I was growing up, one thing I remember my Dad saying a lot was, “If you are looking out for yourself, that’s the only person looking out for you; but if you are looking out for other people, you have that many people looking out for you.” The principle he was trying to drill into our selfish little heads applies in the Spiritual realm as well: when I am fighting for my agenda to be accomplished, I am the only one fighting for it; but when I am fighting for God’s agenda to be accomplished, I have God and His army behind me.

Whose banner flies above my head as I march into battle, mine or God’s?