Establish Boundaries

"It is important that you establish guidelines right up front," says Sabrina Black. "You do not want to compromise your beliefs. You need to let the person you are dating know that sex is not an option for you. Sex is reserved for marriage, and until you are married, there will be no sex, and there will be no foreplay that leads to sex. There will be no fondling; there will be no touching. You can't afford to allow yourself to go too far."

Bonnie Keen says, "When I went out with my (now) husband on our first date, he was a gentleman. I said to him, 'I want you to know that I'm not going to sleep with you—I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm not sleeping with anyone until I'm married again.' He honored every physical boundary every step of the way because he wanted to honor God, and I am so grateful. It made me love him even more. You have to set your own boundaries, and you have to be with somebody who will help you keep them."

You may think that it would be impossible to find a person who is this honorable. Perhaps past experiences have caused you to become somewhat biased about the opposite sex. Godly, upright people do exist, and you can be one of them!

"Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims" (1 Corinthians 6:12 Msg).