This issue was raised by Jesus Himself on a number of occasions.  Goodness me - Jesus was continually confronted with the reality of how easy it is for His followers to become distracted, disillusioned, desiring power, selfish ambition, etc. He had to make it clear what His 'bottom line' was in terms of helping us - His followers - to understand how we can measure our core commitment as a disciple. 

In Luke 6:46-49 Jesus asks his disciples a penetrating question, Jesus said, "Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not what I say?"  The Message translation puts an interesting slant on it, "Why are you so polite with me, always saying 'Yes, sir,' and 'That's right, sir,' but never doing a thing I tell you?"  Here is one of the major issues confronting the church right now 

WE THINK WE ARE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS JUST BECAUSE WE ARE LISTENING TO THE WORD OF GOD!

Jesus went on to say  "I will show you what everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and does them is like".  He then opened a window of illustration to those listening telling us the person who:

i.   Comes to Him
ii   Listens to Him
iii  Does what he hears

is like a man who dug a deep foundation right down to bedrock and then began to build a solid dwelling - was able to sustain and not be destroyed through the storms of life.  On the other hand - the man who doesn't bother to build a deep foundation but 'only listens to Jesus words and does not obey', finds his dwelling destroyed in the floods and storms.

These THREE POINTS are the key ingredients of being a follower or a TRUE DISCIPLE of Jesus.  Let me finish this post by quoting the rest of this passage in the MESSAGE translation:

LUKE 6:47 These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on. v48 "If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss."

LET'S AVOID BEING KNOWN AS A 'DUMB CARPENTER'!!