Yet, what or who are we following? Maybe we don't have an actual image we follow but following something meant you tried to live a life that would please that god -- a life that, if it was a god who was vengeful or unstable, would produce very unstable lives in its followers.
An unstable god = an unstable life for its followers (or believers).
So, if we want to have a stable life we need to have a stable, perfect god. The only one that fits the bill is Father-Son-Spirit, our Triune God, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
But even if with our words we say we are following Jesus and believe we are, our actions and the fruit of our lives will show us and the world who we really are following.
It's a process. When we come to Christ we have to unlearn stuff our entire lives. The gods of this world are sneaky and start to infiltrate our brains from the very beginning.
Many of us live for money. We might not like to do this. We might even think money doesn't have a god-like (another word is idol) on us, but does the amount of money we have influence our stress levels? Our level of contentment? Our hope for the future? Do we sacrifice our families to make more of it? Do we do things for money we wouldn't do if we didn't have to? If we can answer yes to any of those questions, money probably has its hooks in us without us even realizing it.
Jesus calls this kind of root in us a thorn, a thorn that will choke out the good seed of the Word. He says in Matthew 13:22, "And the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."
Another big one in our society -- appearance, especially weight and youth. Are we content with the way we look, the amount we weigh, the aging process and what it does to our appearance? If we cannot be content where we are at (not saying you can't work on being healthy) that is something we need God to shine His light on. I had to have a light shine on this part of life recently. My body is changing due to age. It's just what happens. I can make sure to stay healthy but my body will still have some changes. I am almost 50 years old. These bodies we've given are temporary. No matter what we do they are going to decay. We can slow it down. We can be super healthy at whatever age we are at, but the reality is that things change. You can see some people who have desperately tried to hold onto their youth with surgery after surgery. When we start messing with our appearance in this way, if we don't stop, we start looking very strange. It also shows we are looking at the wrong thing. One of the most beautiful people you will ever meet is a woman who has lived her life for Jesus and who is full of His peace and joy. The Spirit radiates out of her face. We can all be that person -- just keep unlearning the junk you are told that contradicts God's truth.
Hey, there is no condemnation here. We are all growing spiritually one way or another. And even when we reach a certain point and feel we have no problem with some part in our life, we might have a problem again because people change and life throws new things at us; we are all works in progress. God knows this and He isn't surprised and He doesn't condemn.
"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6