Dating can be complicated! It’s exciting and exhilarating, but also difficult and confusing at times. The most important thing you can do when you’re dating is keep Jesus at the center. When looking for your spouse, you need to ensure you have standards that honor God, encourage purity, and prioritize mutual respect. Using Scripture as your guide, you can build and maintain a God-honoring, healthy, flourishing relationship.
Here are six things to keep in mind when pursuing a dating relationship.
Next Steps for Your Dating Relationships
1. Only consider dating people with a prominent, active, and consistent walk with Jesus. It’s extremely important that you and any potential romantic partner are “equally yoked” (2 Corinthians 6:14). If you end up in a long-term relationship or marriage with this person, you want to make sure you’re both on the same level spiritually, moving together toward an ever-deepening and growing faith.
2. Be realistic and honest about your intentions. Don’t lead someone on or casually flirt with them if you’re not interested in dating them. If you are interested in dating them, be open and transparent about it.
3. Take the pressure off yourself! You’re not going to be romantically compatible with everyone, and that’s okay. Focus on developing a friendship first, but be open to the relationship evolving into more if, after spending time together, you find that you are romantically compatible.
4. Once pursuing a romantic relationship has been agreed upon, have a discussion about your emotional, moral, and spiritual boundaries. Make sure you’re both on the same page before you’re in a situation that might cause you to compromise your boundaries.
5. When your heart is involved, it can become difficult to see a situation objectively. So seek the counsel of a trusted, godly support system for regular, transparent accountability and perspective.
6. Remember, Christ is leading you in all you do. Seek His will through the entire dating process. Pray that He would help you guard your heart when necessary, and open your heart appropriately as the relationship deepens. Pray for your potential partner’s heart, too, always desiring God’s best for them.
Below are some Scriptures to help you know what God says about dating and developing romantic relationships. If you want prayer or to talk about your current situation, feel free to call the pastoral care team at 800-525-5683.
Additional Scriptures
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? – 2 Corinthians 6:14 NLT
God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and His ways. – 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 NLT
Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. – Psalm 37:4 NLT
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. – Proverbs 4:23 NLT
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. – Ephesians 4:2 NLT
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT
