1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. . . . 13 Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love. (New Living Translation)

Galatians 5:15 – But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. (New Living Translation, 1st ed.)

Advice for Real World Relationships

1. Thank God for our differences

Genesis 1:27 – So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (New Living Translation)

Romans 15:7 – Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. (New Living Translation)

2. Go to God with your disappointments

Ephesians 4:2 – Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. (New Living Translation)

1 Corinthians 13:7 – Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (New Living Translation)

3. Trust God with your feelings

Psalm 62:8 – People, trust God all the time. Tell him all your problems, because God is our protection. (New Century Version)

Hebrews 10:23 – Let us hold tightly to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. (New Living Translation)

Lamentations 5:21 – Turn us around and bring us back to you again! That is our only hope! Give us back the joys we used to have! (The Living Bible)

4. Ask God for His ______________________________

James 1:6 – But when you ask God, you must believe and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown up and down by the wind. (New Century Version)

1 Corinthians 7:17 – But be sure in deciding these matters that you are living as God intended, marrying or not marrying in accordance with God’s direction and help, and accepting whatever situation God has put you into. This is my rule for all the churches. (The Living Bible)

5. Look to Jesus as your __________________________

Ephesians 4:32 – Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ. (New Century Version)

Philippians 2:3, 5-6 – 3 Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. . . . 5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. (The Message)

1 John 3:18 – . . . let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions. (The Living Bible)