3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10“I love to eat.” “I love to swim.” “I love money.” “I love my dog.” “I love you.” What does the word love mean? Webster defines love as: “1. A feeling of strong personal attachment induced by sympathetic understanding, or by ties of kinship; ardent affection. 2. Tender and passionate affection for one of the opposite sex.”
There are different types of love: love of things, self love, brotherly love, sexual love, and godly love. How does the love you feel for your fiancé compare with God’s definition of love as found in 1 Corinthians 13?
Take this short test and compare your love and the love of your fiancé with the biblical definition of love.
Rate yourself and your fiancé on a scale of one to ten. One would be low on the love scale and ten would be high. Circle the number which you believe is descriptive of you and your fiancé at this time. For example:
This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience.
Myself 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
10
By circling two, you would be saying that you do not have a great deal of patience. On the other hand, your fiancé displays a great deal of patience as noted by circling the number nine.
1. This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience.
Love doesn’t demonstrate irritations or reflect anger or have a quick temper. Love bears ill-treatment from others. Love has fully accepted the character of the other individual. Love is longsuffering.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. Love looks for a way of being constructive.
Love is actively creative. Love is able to recognize needs. Love mellows all which would be harsh and austere. Love discovers successful methods of improving or contributing to the other person’s life.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. Love is not possessive.
Love is not envious. Love does not hold exclusive control where one is allowed little or no freedom to fulfill him- or herself apart from the other individual. Love does not boil over with jealousy.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. Love is not anxious to impress.
Love does not brag. Love doesn’t seek to make an impression or create an image for personal gain. Love does not show itself off. Love is not ostentatious. Love does not make a parade.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. Love doesn't cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
Love does not put on airs. Love is not self-centered. Love has the ability to change and to accept change. Love is flexible. Love is not conceited, arrogant, or inflated with pride. Love doesn’t allow or accept the idea that life revolves around itself. Love is not on an ego trip.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. Love has good manners.
Love has respect for others which results in a set of Christ-centered standards. Love does not act unbecomingly or unmannerly. Love has discretion and knows what is proper and when. Love is not indecent.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. Love does not pursue selfish advantage.
Love does not insist on its own way. Love does not have primary concern for personal sexual appetites or social status but concern for needs of the other person and other family members. Love does not pursue selfish aims.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8. Love is not touchy.
Love is not easily angered. Love is not hypersensitive or easily hurt. Love does not take things too personally. Love is thick-skinned. Love is not emotionally involved with personal opinions so that to reject ideas is to reject the one giving them. Love bears no malice. Love is not irritable or resentful.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9. Love does not keep account of evil.
Love doesn’t review wrongs that have been forgiven. Love doesn’t dwell on past evil. Love keeps no score of past hurts. Love destroys evidence of past mistakes when possible.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10. Love does not gloat over the wickedness of other people.
Love doesn’t compare self with others for self-justification. Love doesn’t use other’s evil to excuse personal weakness. Love doesn’t say, “Everyone’s doing it.” Love does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11. On the contrary, love is glad with all godly people when truth prevails.
Love is active in fellowship with dedicated Christians. Love is occupied with spiritual objectives. Love rejoices at the victory of truth.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
12. Love knows no limit to its forbearance.
Love has the ability to live with the inconsistencies of others. Love is slow to expose. Love can overlook faults. Love has empathy for the problems of others. Love can endure many hardships.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
13. Love knows no end to its trust.
Love expresses faith in everything. Love believes in the person and the person’s worth without question. Love is eager to believe the best and has no reason to doubt the other person’s integrity.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
14. Love knows no fading of its hope.
Love is not fickle. Love has perfect peace and confidence that God is primarily responsible for introducing the right partner at the right time. Love is positive and not negative.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
15. Love has unlimited endurance.
Love is able to outlast anything. Love is able to endure all obstacles and even love in the face of unreturned love. Love does not lose heart but has perseverance. There is nothing that love cannot face.
Myself 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fiancé 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
If you love someone you will be loyal no matter what the cost. You will always believe in that person, always expect the best, and always stand your ground in defending him or her.
Love is the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen. In this life we have three great lasting qualities…Faith, Hope, and Love. But the greatest of them is Love.
Love is not just a feeling but a commitment of the person and his or her will. Love is a decision to love an imperfect person.