I wish you could see that

the part of me that you are attracted to is a result of my steadfast faith in Christ.  Without Him, I wouldn't be the person you are so fascinated with right now.

And if I did agree to dating you, I would begin to slip away from Christ because you are not rooted in Him as I am.  And if I slip away from Him, I begin to lose the personality that has so captivated you in the first place.  It would just be a total mess.  I wish I could just tell you this somehow now.  I kind of hinted at it before, but it didn't seem to elicit the expected reaction.

There is a lot of turmoil in my heart right now, and I'm honestly just surprised how I could become so attached to and comfortable with someone within a matter of a few days.  But as much as I like you more than a friend, as long as we are not pursuing the same relationship in Christ, I can't date you in any way.  We honestly would make good friends, but you don't seem to want that for the time being, and I understand that.  These feelings are still fresh in us - but for some reason I can handle being just friends more than you can.  So I think I'll let everything die down for a bit, and maybe we can continue to converse as friends once again.  I will be praying with all my heart for that day.

The weaker the feelings, the less painful the heartache.

You say take a chance, and I understand where you're coming from, but heartache can be so destructive if I don't do anything about it now.

A lot really can happen in a short amount of time.