"Jesus answered, ... AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH" (Mark 12:29-30, NASB).
You don't have to do this to get saved, it is just a template of your agenda for life and to see what direction you are going. In other words, as Jesus commanded us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, the test is the direction we are going, not the measure of our achievement. Faith is never static (staying in one place) or stagnant (not growing or wasting away) either, you are either losing ground and backsliding or you are growing in the faith by an obedient life and moving ahead in becoming more Christlike and increasing in reflecting His glory and partaking of the divine essence (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4; 2 Cor. 3:18). We can't stand still in our relationship and just be complacent to be saved and nonchalant about what rewards we get; you are either a first-class and world-class Christian or a worldly and carnal Christian losing ground spiritually--no one treads water!
What does this command mean when it says to love God? Everyone has a strong suit or forte that they feel they can trump others on and compare themselves with themselves (2 Cor. 12:12 says this is unwise) and feel a cut above others in this category or department. You can say: "I can see why you like to sing, you're so good at it." And to answer: "I can see why you like to write, you're so good at it." We are all different! One brother may say: "I think you need to show more feeling." In reply, the other says: "I think you need to use your mind more and get your thinking straightened out!" It is vain to judge one another because we are all works in progress and under the auspices of God. All love is sacrificial as the supreme example of God so loving the world that He gave His only Son: You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. We give of our minds, hearts, wills, and strength as we have the opportunity and responsibility for the same. Bear in mind: We are all merely stewards of the blessings of God and will be held accountable for what we did in the body.
For instance, loving with all your mind means to learn how to think and to think with discernment and wisdom and devote it to God's will, and not be foolish like the Proverbs warn against; we are not to go by feeling but to think before we speak and act. We should also do our best to achieve whatever intellectual capacity we are called to fulfill or to complete our calling (apathy and ignorance are taboo). To think with a divine rather than human viewpoint and worldview is part of this mindset. Focus your mind on Christ: "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you" (Isaiah 26:3, ESV); "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus." Do you just settle for a job halfway and being "good enough" to your low standards?
Feelings, affections, or the heart come after obedience and faith and is not the engine but the caboose of the metaphorical train. They used to say in the '60's that if it feels good, do it! This is a recipe for disaster. Don't go by feelings, but the facts of the Word of God, because they come and go and are like a see-saw with its ups and downs--you must keep the faith! Christians on fire for the Lord are contagious--get to know some! We love God with our affections or heart by going with our feelings and not inhibiting them but feeling what God feels about tragedy and evil in the world. You must seek God with all your heart to find Him, and believe with your heart to be saved (in other words, you will fall in love with Jesus).
Do you have compassion for the things of God and feel what God feels and love the things God loves, as well as hate the things God hates? Do you enjoy the emotional lift of worship as the Holy Spirit stirs your spirit and delight in heavenly things (some people would not like heaven because that's what will happen there!)? Psalm 16:11 comes to mind: "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Nehemiah 8:10 says that the "joy of the LORD is your strength." Don't ever lose that joy--Jesus says no man can take it from you (cf. Phil. 4:4). Don't be discouraged that you aren't as excited, ecstatic, or euphoric as other more mature believers who have fallen in love with Jesus, because they don't have more of the Spirit, the Spirit just has more of them!
We must also surrender all of our soul or all of our being (intellect, affection, and will) to be saved. This equates obedience with faith (Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes--they are correlated and the flip side of each other and cannot be separated, though we do distinguish them--they go hand in hand. "Do not be foolish, but understand the will of the Lord" (Ephesians 5:7). We must be willing to pick up our cross and follow Him to the death, if need be, and make His will our will in a constant prayer of relinquishment ("Thy will be done," which is the greatest of prayers, that even Jesus prayed). Being ignorant of the will of God is a sign you are not willing to do it, because God will reveal it to you as you are ready for it and can handle it, but never more than we need to know--no one knows the will of God for their whole life as a laid-out plan, because we don't know what God is going to end up doing with us.
The problem most believers have is that they know the right thing to do and God's will, but don't have the will power or discipline to do it, (Ovid said, "I see the better things, and I approve them, but I follow the worse"). Paul realized in Romans 7:24 that he couldn't please God in his own power ("Who will deliver me from the body of this death?"), but thanked Christ for giving him the power--we cannot complete the yoke of the Law of Moses as the Jews couldn't either, but the yoke of the will of God is what we have in the New Covenant and Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." God gives us tasks according to our ability and the place we are at and the level of maturity and we prove to have--we must grow up and take on the task given us and not remain infants in Christ forever living a carnal life and not as spiritual.
Finally, we must also surrender our strength to God and love with all our natural ability and physical stamina and athletic or coordinated prowess. We are not to exalt our body, thinking it is the most important thing to center our life around and become fitness or health freaks living an unbalanced life at the expense of other areas and faculties. On the other hand, we are not to despise our body and misuse it, but see it as a temple of the Holy Spirit and a trust or responsibility to maintain. Ignoring health issues is a bad sign and a violation of our responsibility and duty to God as His creatures and children. We are endowed by God and should be faithful to fulfill our individual gift or gifts. Some are stronger and better endowed as they say by nature, and just like other talents or gifts, are more responsible to complete that calling.
Let me clear up something: No one can say they have obeyed this command! We aren't saved by loving Jesus, but by faith in Christ: We are saved solely by grace (no merit of our own) through the gift of faith that is God's gift, but our act, and we must do something with it and take the leap of faith, and it must be directed in Christ alone as the object (it is the object of faith that saves, not the amount of faith or just faith per se, which would be faith in faith). We can be sincerely wrong, (sincerity is necessary, but not sufficient) sincerity is vital but it only opens the door to an opportunity to respond and answer the call of God and believe in our hearts. The whole person must be involved to be saved: Intellect with the right knowledge or doctrine, emotions or affections of our heart, and the will as we endeavor and resolve to obey God and follow on to know the Lord and to be a disciple or learner of Christ. No one has ever followed the Greatest Commandment to love God with their whole personhood and being; we must accept the gift of salvation by faith and realize our utter bankruptcy before God that we aren't good enough to be saved, but that we are bad enough to need salvation.
In summation, no one can brag before God that he has complied with this commandment but must rely on the grace of God for salvation, and strive to complete as loving children who want to do God's will as our duty as creatures and children. Just because you are good at one aspect of loving God doesn't mean you can pull rank and start forcing compliance to your standards or rules and be in your image--Christ is the only image of God and we are all works in progress and none of us can say that the have "arrived" or is perfect or God is finished with them. "I do not claim to have laid a hold of it yet," as Paul said to the Philippians 3:12-13. But rest assured: God finishes what He starts as Philippians 1:6 (ESV) proclaims: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Soli Deo Gloria!
You don't have to do this to get saved, it is just a template of your agenda for life and to see what direction you are going. In other words, as Jesus commanded us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, the test is the direction we are going, not the measure of our achievement. Faith is never static (staying in one place) or stagnant (not growing or wasting away) either, you are either losing ground and backsliding or you are growing in the faith by an obedient life and moving ahead in becoming more Christlike and increasing in reflecting His glory and partaking of the divine essence (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4; 2 Cor. 3:18). We can't stand still in our relationship and just be complacent to be saved and nonchalant about what rewards we get; you are either a first-class and world-class Christian or a worldly and carnal Christian losing ground spiritually--no one treads water!
What does this command mean when it says to love God? Everyone has a strong suit or forte that they feel they can trump others on and compare themselves with themselves (2 Cor. 12:12 says this is unwise) and feel a cut above others in this category or department. You can say: "I can see why you like to sing, you're so good at it." And to answer: "I can see why you like to write, you're so good at it." We are all different! One brother may say: "I think you need to show more feeling." In reply, the other says: "I think you need to use your mind more and get your thinking straightened out!" It is vain to judge one another because we are all works in progress and under the auspices of God. All love is sacrificial as the supreme example of God so loving the world that He gave His only Son: You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. We give of our minds, hearts, wills, and strength as we have the opportunity and responsibility for the same. Bear in mind: We are all merely stewards of the blessings of God and will be held accountable for what we did in the body.
For instance, loving with all your mind means to learn how to think and to think with discernment and wisdom and devote it to God's will, and not be foolish like the Proverbs warn against; we are not to go by feeling but to think before we speak and act. We should also do our best to achieve whatever intellectual capacity we are called to fulfill or to complete our calling (apathy and ignorance are taboo). To think with a divine rather than human viewpoint and worldview is part of this mindset. Focus your mind on Christ: "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you" (Isaiah 26:3, ESV); "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus." Do you just settle for a job halfway and being "good enough" to your low standards?
Feelings, affections, or the heart come after obedience and faith and is not the engine but the caboose of the metaphorical train. They used to say in the '60's that if it feels good, do it! This is a recipe for disaster. Don't go by feelings, but the facts of the Word of God, because they come and go and are like a see-saw with its ups and downs--you must keep the faith! Christians on fire for the Lord are contagious--get to know some! We love God with our affections or heart by going with our feelings and not inhibiting them but feeling what God feels about tragedy and evil in the world. You must seek God with all your heart to find Him, and believe with your heart to be saved (in other words, you will fall in love with Jesus).
Do you have compassion for the things of God and feel what God feels and love the things God loves, as well as hate the things God hates? Do you enjoy the emotional lift of worship as the Holy Spirit stirs your spirit and delight in heavenly things (some people would not like heaven because that's what will happen there!)? Psalm 16:11 comes to mind: "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Nehemiah 8:10 says that the "joy of the LORD is your strength." Don't ever lose that joy--Jesus says no man can take it from you (cf. Phil. 4:4). Don't be discouraged that you aren't as excited, ecstatic, or euphoric as other more mature believers who have fallen in love with Jesus, because they don't have more of the Spirit, the Spirit just has more of them!
We must also surrender all of our soul or all of our being (intellect, affection, and will) to be saved. This equates obedience with faith (Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes--they are correlated and the flip side of each other and cannot be separated, though we do distinguish them--they go hand in hand. "Do not be foolish, but understand the will of the Lord" (Ephesians 5:7). We must be willing to pick up our cross and follow Him to the death, if need be, and make His will our will in a constant prayer of relinquishment ("Thy will be done," which is the greatest of prayers, that even Jesus prayed). Being ignorant of the will of God is a sign you are not willing to do it, because God will reveal it to you as you are ready for it and can handle it, but never more than we need to know--no one knows the will of God for their whole life as a laid-out plan, because we don't know what God is going to end up doing with us.
The problem most believers have is that they know the right thing to do and God's will, but don't have the will power or discipline to do it, (Ovid said, "I see the better things, and I approve them, but I follow the worse"). Paul realized in Romans 7:24 that he couldn't please God in his own power ("Who will deliver me from the body of this death?"), but thanked Christ for giving him the power--we cannot complete the yoke of the Law of Moses as the Jews couldn't either, but the yoke of the will of God is what we have in the New Covenant and Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." God gives us tasks according to our ability and the place we are at and the level of maturity and we prove to have--we must grow up and take on the task given us and not remain infants in Christ forever living a carnal life and not as spiritual.
Finally, we must also surrender our strength to God and love with all our natural ability and physical stamina and athletic or coordinated prowess. We are not to exalt our body, thinking it is the most important thing to center our life around and become fitness or health freaks living an unbalanced life at the expense of other areas and faculties. On the other hand, we are not to despise our body and misuse it, but see it as a temple of the Holy Spirit and a trust or responsibility to maintain. Ignoring health issues is a bad sign and a violation of our responsibility and duty to God as His creatures and children. We are endowed by God and should be faithful to fulfill our individual gift or gifts. Some are stronger and better endowed as they say by nature, and just like other talents or gifts, are more responsible to complete that calling.
Let me clear up something: No one can say they have obeyed this command! We aren't saved by loving Jesus, but by faith in Christ: We are saved solely by grace (no merit of our own) through the gift of faith that is God's gift, but our act, and we must do something with it and take the leap of faith, and it must be directed in Christ alone as the object (it is the object of faith that saves, not the amount of faith or just faith per se, which would be faith in faith). We can be sincerely wrong, (sincerity is necessary, but not sufficient) sincerity is vital but it only opens the door to an opportunity to respond and answer the call of God and believe in our hearts. The whole person must be involved to be saved: Intellect with the right knowledge or doctrine, emotions or affections of our heart, and the will as we endeavor and resolve to obey God and follow on to know the Lord and to be a disciple or learner of Christ. No one has ever followed the Greatest Commandment to love God with their whole personhood and being; we must accept the gift of salvation by faith and realize our utter bankruptcy before God that we aren't good enough to be saved, but that we are bad enough to need salvation.