I have learned from my wife that there is no limit to the number we need to say "I love you". We cannot say it enough. Even actions are not enough. Love needs to be expressed over and over again every day to affirm and reassure each other that we love each other. It is amazing how that one sentence builds trust and confidence between a couple. Without it distrust and insecurity develop. The answer must equal the number of times we need to forgive each other.
Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22). We need to say, "I love you" not once, not seven times, but up to 70 x 7 = 490 times a day! In communicating our love, we cause it to grow. The natural result of this process of communication is that we notice more and more reasons why we love each other. When we say, over and over again, "I love you," we stimulate the process of being.
"...infatuated always with her (his) love" (Proverbs 5:19). Expressing our love makes it real, both to the person we love as to ourselves. It's the same principle Paul taught about salvation:
For a man believes in this heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved (Romans 10:10). A paraphrase might be: "For a man loves in his heart and confesses with his lips and so is loved."
c. Gordon Williams Evangelistic Association 2008.
