What can you offer?

There is always something to complain about I thought as I was filling out a planning survey for corporate. It is also the easiest thing. We can come up with more things to complain about than offer some constructive ideas on how to improve a company. So I tried to do the lather today, pointing out our strengths and how to build off of those.
Anyhow, I was reading Luke 14 as we also discussed it in bible study: V26-27 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life-he cannot be my disciple."
Sounds harsh, but it has to be put that way I believe because we have to know the cost up front, the cost of denying all for Christ. Does he require us to give these up to follow him? No, but we must be willing to. There is so much more to give up, but by cutting right to the things we hold so dear (our loved ones) he posses the question in the most sober way.
This got me thinking about struggling with certain passages of scripture as most have at one point or another. The one I hear a lot being "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy" but I believe God allows these to be a mind struggle so we know what we believe or even to reveal who He is through it, I wish there was more of this.