The Joy of Intimacy is the Reward of Commitment

An intimate relationship is a beautiful experience that God wants us to enjoy. After all, He stated that it wasn't good for man to alone and created the woman to perfectly complement him and help him (Gen 2:18). But God has made the fulfilment of intimacy a by-product of commitment-based love. If we want to experience the goodness of His plan, we need to reconnect the pursuit of intimacy with the pursuit of commitment:

the joy of intimacy is the reward of commitment

All of us want intimacy. It means being close to someone. It's being vulnerable, open, and dependent. It's giving to and receiving from another person the deepest parts of who we are - our hopes, our fears, our secrets, our affections. An intimate relationship in which we know and are known by another human is one of the most fulfilling and precious parts of life - it's a gift from God.
There are many different kinds of intimate relationships in life. We can be intimate with a friend, with a family member, with a co-worker, but the deepest, most meaningful of intimate relationships (outside of a Christian's relationship with God) is the one between a husband and wife who share not only their hearts but also their bodies - in sexual intimacy, two people know each other in a profound way.
What each of these relationships has in common is trust. We are intimate with those people who have proven their faithfulness to us, people who have shown over time that they will be careful to guard what we have given of ourselves. We're intimate with people who are committed to us.
You might say that intimacy between a man and a woman is the icing on the cake of a relationship headed toward marriage. And if we look at intimacy that way, then it becomes obvious that most of our dating relationships are all icing. They usually lack a purpose or a clear destination. In most cases, especially when we're younger, dating is short term,serving the needs of the moment. We date because we want to enjoy the emotional and physical benefits of intimacy without the responsibility of real commitment.