This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other (Zech 7:09-11).”

Due to their failure to keep this command, the destruction came to the people of Israel. The foundation of their nation was the Law: to love their god with all their heart and might, and to love their neighbors as themselves. The laying of the foundation of the destroyed temple by those who had returned from the captivity symbolized the willingness to keep the Law as the renewal of the covenant they had with God. And having received their willingness together with the symbolic event of the laying of the foundation of the temple, God told them that he was going to bless them and they would be a blessing from then on. He also revealed his strong determination to do good to Jerusalem and Judah. Then, he said:

These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this," declares the Lord (8:16-17).

It is important to note that these words are similar to what Jesus said after he washed his disciples’ feet. John’s gospel says that having realized that the time to leave this world had come, he showed them the full extent of his love (John 13:1). He said:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another (John 13:34).

This is the way every Christian is required to live. The New Testament says that the command to love our God with all our heart and strength has been fulfilled in us through Christ, and the only command that is left for us to keep is to love one another as God loves us. Note how these commands have come to be expressed differently under the new covenant. You see the trace of the first command to love God in the following words of Jesus:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love (15:9).

The mentality of the old covenant is to try to love God as much as you can so that he can love you more. But the history proved that it did not work. So Christ came, and God first loved us. And it was by accepting his love that we became Christians. Therefore, all Christians know that God loves them, and already have his love in their hearts as Jesus lives in them. In other words, the love relationship with God has been already established in the heart of every Christian, and there is no question about it.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Eph 3:17-19).

“To be rooted and established in love” means to have the foundation of love—the love of Christ, the love God has for you, which is being demonstrated through Christ. And Paul is praying that you will come to “know” it. He is not asking God to love you more, nor telling you to love God more, but praying that you only come to know more how much he loves you through Christ. This love is the foundation of your life and my life. Let us not lie to ourselves by not loving one another.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen (1 John 4:19-20).