Why do people date? What is the purpose of dating? I don’t know if you have ever asked yourself that question, or if it has become so normal in our culture that we just go along with it. From popular movies to TV shows, there is often some romantic storyline that pops up that engages the viewer and draws us in. Many people willingly or unwillingly want this for their life and so they engage in the dating scene over and over looking for that Mr. or Mrs. Right. Unfortunately, those movies and TV shows are for entertainment and not really a model for how you should live your life. Rarely do people discover the love of their life while on a two-week island paradise dating experiment. What ends up happening is that a lot of dating comes with heartbreak and pain because we think those relationships are going to bring security, fulfillment, and peace, but we find that when things don't work out that we end up with the opposite. True security, fulfillment, and peace are only found in God, who is the source of all good things. Dating was never and is never meant to complete you or make you happy, but for many, relationships can become a counterfeit source of things you are desperately looking for. You may be reading this devotional and thinking, "I am only a teenager and I'm not ready to get married.” Then why are you dating? When you date without the thought or possibility of marriage, you are telling yourself and the other person that eventually we are going to break up, and the longer this goes on and the more invested we are in each other, and the more physical we've gotten with each other, the harder it is going to be and the more emotional scars this relationship will have left on both our lives. Why would we go into a relationship with that kind of expectation? My encouragement for you during your middle school and high school years is to build strong foundations in your faith, focus your attention on your relationship with God and build strong, healthy friendships until you are at a place to take things to the next level in a mature and healthy way.