We're not fond of hard, unambiguous choices. We want our comfortable, though hectic, middle-class American lives, but we want the Gospel, too. We want to follow Jesus, but we really don't want it to upset the lives we believe we have created for ourselves. However, even Jesus makes clear that there is no such thing as middle ground when it comes to loving God and following in the ways of God. Either we choose to be full-time disciples or we are not disciples at all.
Nominal commitment has neither reality or value.
We must love God most, and everything and everyone else less. Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that, yes, the choice between discipleship and walking the other way is clear, but difficult, and we must count the cost ahead of time. We must indeed examine what we love, whom we love and how we love and then determine whether or not we are willing to put God at the top of that list, knowing that it might cost us everything. Discipleship is about making that choice time and time again. It is about following the person and life and work of Jesus.