August 9, 2022

What is camaraderie? Our culture's answer lies in its outlook on the meaning of life. It screams to us from every level to be “authentic” to who you feel you are inside. We are told to expect, and even demand, that everyone else concur with our feelings by giving their heartfelt support (showing their camaraderie) to what we say about our identity. We are promised that we will find our meaning in life only through this expression of our “true self”. This idea leaves us with an internal void that is always struggling for other people's support, and their affirmation of whatever we feel is most needed in each new moment. 

A much more helpful answer comes from Jesus in Luke 9:23-25:

And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? (ESV)

Here Jesus welcomes all who will heed His call to true fulfillment and lasting camaraderie. This call is to know God, and be known as a member of His family. This new family identity runs thick as blood, for it is the very blood of Jesus that brings us into fullness of joy and assurance in God, and unshakably links us together with the family of God. This is the motivation for everything we do and teach here at ALERT. We endeavor to call the men away from the faulty, hopeless picture the world offers, and instead point them to the example of Jesus Christ and the lasting hope of knowing Him and being included in His eternal family.