We love because he first loved us. This short sentence contains the entire logic of the New Covenant: love does not begin with you. It begins with God and flows through you.
When you try to love from your own strength, you grow tired. But when you recognize that you are already loved, love becomes natural. It is not your performance but the fruit of what God has planted in you.
Righteousness in the New Covenant works the same way: you do not become righteous through doing, but you do righteous things because you have been made righteous. The order is decisive.