Take some time to think about this question: Why do you want to date?

Okay, now that you have a few thoughts in mind, let's continue. This thought exercise is to reconnect with your motivations; not the what or the how, but the why. We all have motivations for what we do and say but often we don't recognize or admit them. The more we face our true motivations, the more likely we are to see them as wise or foolish.
When it comes to aspects of dating, relationships, marriage, and sex, people have a lot of motivations and reasons for wanting to step into those things. However, just because they have a reason doesn't necessarily make it good. Here are some examples of bad reasons for wanting to date:

• I'm lonely.
• I want to have sex.
• I want another person to complete me or validate me.
• I want to be more like other people my age.
• I'm afraid I'm missing out.
• I am very attracted to them.
• I want to impress people or increase my status.
• I want to prove something.
• I can, it's what I want to do.
• My parents said I could.
• Dating will help my self-esteem, etc.

While the world may tell us that these are all good reasons for dating, they are not the best motivation for a Godly relationship. If any of these reasons are your driving force for dating, the relationship may not progress or end well for either party.  

Here is a much more wise answer and correct approach to the same question:

• Because I feel that God is leading me to date.
• I am spiritually mature and ready to date.
• I am mentally, socially, and emotionally mature and ready.
• I am physically mature and ready to date.
• I am ready to take that next step in dating because I am ready for marriage and family after that.

Keep in mind it doesn't mean you have to marry the person you are dating. It does mean that you should step into a season of dating, in a healthy place, with the idea of marriage in mind. However, if you have no intention of getting married and starting a family, you have no business dating. Dating with no intent to marry is like going shopping with no money, you either leave unhappy or take something that isn’t yours. When dating with no intention to marry, at some point, the relationship will likely end because things get more serious than you (or the other person) intended. Many times the relationship becomes sexual and you may then carry the shame and/or guilt of your decision as well as the pain of a messy breakup.

As you read this, there is a possibility you may have been offended. Please know, that is not our intention. However, the likely cause of any offense is that you have been motivated to date by something unholy. The spirit and flesh just went to war within you. Our flesh tells us to do what feels good and what feels right and to follow our heart's desires. The spirit of God tells us the opposite; to do what honors God, and to follow the desires of His heart. Psalm 37:4 even goes so far as to tell us to delight ourselves in the Lord! When we delight ourselves in God, we are saying no to our fleshly desires. Each day we have a choice, will I choose to delight myself in the Lord and obey His commands, or fall captive to my flesh? Our choices will bring about our motivations.

It is crucial to have the right motivations in place before you begin dating.