Christian Dating - How to Overcome Temptations

Dating as a Christian is a little more difficult than dating as a non Christian because as Christians we are called to live a life of purity, and much of the dating advice (or even dating techniques or the goals of the person dating!) out there don’t point you towards purity. In fact, most of it sets you up for a fall, as your goal is to stimulate arousal and “get all you can” in some cases.

Now, as we have to deal with the weakness of our flesh (especially when it comes to dating as a Christian), it makes things a little more difficult, as we don’t want to let things escalate to the point where we are making out or end up having sex. Our goal is purity, and we want to protect the other person – emotionally, spiritually and physically.

So, with that in mind, here are a few ways that you can date as a Christian while lessening (though not always completely eliminating) the temptations that may come up:

1) Pray. Praying connects us to God and gives us the proper perspective on life and more specifically, dating. More importantly, it gives us strength to overcome temptation. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gesthemane right before he was crucified He told his disciples to watch and pray so that they could avoid temptation.

2) Get to know someone in a group setting before dating. This tip alone will save you countless headaches and heartaches. So often, people are soo taken by one another on their first impression that they immediately jump into a dating relationship, only to find out that they really aren’t compatible and they have to end the relationship leaving both parties hurt. By hanging out in a group, you are able to properly evaluate whether or not you’re compatibly by being able to see what someone’s really like without having the pressure of dating them.

3) Avoid situations where the two of you are completely alone. If you are dating, you need to have accountability with other people (couples, each of your parents, friends) to ensure that you don’t just happen to be over at someone’s house when no one else is there. I know the excuse is that “Nothing is going to happen”, but I’ve had friends become pregnant and have to get married before they were ready (and in a couple of cases, even though they really weren’t compatible at all!) because they thought this rule was too strict, or that it didn’t apply to them.