who are you following?

The life of faith always requires movement from one allegiance to another.
 
"The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus." John 1:35-37

Jesus' disciples, then and now, have to make choices every day.  We must choose who we follow and we must choose what we pursue. 
 
Countless loyalties and allegiances are available to us and are continual temptations to our commitment to Christ.  We can choose to follow the powerful, the beautiful, the radical, the popular, . . .  We can choose to pursue money, power, possessions, success, prestige, control, beauty, pleasure, approval, self-promotion.  Fear is a great motivator of our choices.  Fear invites us to try to "eliminate" risk by choosing certainty, safety and security. 
 
Human beings’ history of bad choices is long and sad. 
God is speaking:
Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?  The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven [the Babylonian goddess Ishtar].  They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.  But am I the one they are provoking?, declares the Lord.  Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?  Jeremiah 7:17-19
 
Henri Nouwen wrote, "The movement from illusion to prayer is hard to make since it leads us from false certainties to true uncertainties, from an easy support system to a risky surrender, and from the many 'safe' gods to the God whose love has no limits."  From Reaching Out

Lord, by your Spirit and because of your love which has no limit, help us to fix our eyes on you and to be faithful to our allegiance to you on the soul’s journey?
 
 "Everyone, at some time and in some areas, is a follower, and it is just as important to be discriminating in choosing whom to follow as it is to prepare to lead."  From Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf