Deciding Who Will Lead Us Around

Jesus tells Peter in one of the post-resurrection narratives in John's gospel that when he was young he went where he wanted, but when he is old someone will grab him by the belt and lead him to where he does not wish to go; referring to Peter's life before and after his conversion

I would add a corollary.  If we are not led by God's Spirit, we think that we are free to go where we want to go.  Actually, we are always drawn by powerful cultural forces that grab us figuratively by the belt and lead us where we want to go.  These cultural forces are wise enough to lead us to believe in our own self-determination.  We are dragged around without being conscious of the fact that we are being dragged around

The purpose of the Church is for us to wake up to the realization that culture drags us where it wants us to go for its own benefit, and then to allow ourselves to recognize Christ, and allow Christ to grab us by the belt and take us where we need to go to fulfill God's purposes.  We will know that we are being dragged by Christ and not culture because we will be drawn to those places where we would choose not to go.  This requires the Church to be a place where we hold ourselves and each other accountable to be led by God's Spirit and not the principalities and powers of this world.