Christians, what is your take on PDA – Public Displays of Affection? As we have just passed Valentine’s Day, I figure it is a fitting time to talk about this topic. Many of us may have went out to dinner, or to a movie with a loved one and been witness to some PDA. Maybe some of us were the ones displaying affection. Many people are uncomfortable watching others or displaying love and affection themselves. Holding hands, embracing, kissing, gentle touches, all signs that the couple you are watching LOVES each other and that they have no problem showing it, and they don’t care who sees it. The true question is, how is our PDA with our True Love – Jesus?
Many people are offended by PDA, they think it is unnecessary. If you want to be affectionate, do it in your own house, when no one is around. Many people are offended by Jesus and they feel much the same way. Which makes it more difficult for Christians to feel comfortable displaying their love and affection for Jesus openly.
I love my wife, she is the greatest gift God has ever given me. I treasure her, I value her, she is my one and only and I want no one other than her, and I don’t care who knows about it. My wife is more comfortable with PDA, she will lean across a table for a quick kiss, and we always joke because I will lean in, but my eyes do a quick search of the room to see who is around. Why do I care? I don’t know, but it is most likely “fear of man.” It is also what stops Christians from openly being comfortable with displaying their love for Jesus.
What are some different types of Christian PDA that people struggle with? The first and foremost is talking about Jesus, their faith, their position with God. Whether at work, in social situations, or going about your day in public. Are you afraid that people will find out you are a Christian and that they will judge you for that? Have you ever been asked about being a Christian and denied it? God talks about this in the Bible, and it is VERY serious to Him. Other forms of PDA we will talk about are more “optional” (dependent on your level of intimacy) but this point Jesus says there are consequences for denying Him to others. Praying out loud, reading the Bible, singing/listening to Christians music in public are all other forms of PDA. We may feel comfortable doing these things at home, or in Church, but what about outside our “comfort zone”? Would you pray for someone in the mall, grocery store, do you pray before you eat in a restaurant?
We live in a Christian country (despite what other people say) and if we cannot be confident and comfortable displaying our affection toward Jesus, then what would we do if the pressure was on? As the world gets more brazen with their displays of perversion, lies, and deceit – the fear of man will only challenge us more to be open about our relationship with Jesus. We must not let other people’s opinions dictate our relationship in the physical or the spiritual. Jesus is coming back for an affectionate Bride, for someone who is truly, madly, deeply in love with Him and who doesn’t care who knows about it, even unto death. As a Church, I do not think we are there yet, but if we have the love, God will present the opportunities to put it on display for others to see.
The next time someone tells you about an ailment or test they are facing in the grocery store, take a moment, be bold, ask if you can pray for them, right there in the frozen foods or produce department. The next time you are on a flight, don’t be shy to pull out your Bible and read it. Don’t be afraid to crank up the tunes in the car and put the windows down on those beautiful spring and summer day. If you pull up at a stoplight and someone hears you belting out praise to God, WHO CARES!? God does, Jesus does, the Holy Spirit does, and they will show their affection back, when you reach out for their hand as you walk through life, they will hold your hand and walk through life displaying love and affection towards you daily.
David was a man, a king, who had NO problem with displaying his love to God, even at the cost of being confronted about it. He had a private relationship with God, that he had no fear of man, making it known to others. He defeated giants, ruled nations, and had in his lineage our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be bold in your love for God, don’t force it and don’t fake it, but don’t fear it. As your love for someone increases, your desire to display that love should increase and if confronted about your love and question, have the boldness of David, to declare, I will get even more undignified than this.
Dear Father God, I pray for strength and encouragement for us today, that as we go and shine our light in the world, that it would be a display of our affection made public. That we would go with all BOLDNESS to live and to love and to share that love with those in need. May we not shy away from opportunities but seek them out to show our love to you and to others, in Jesus name, Amen.
Therefore, everyone who acknowledges Me before men and confesses Me [out of a state of oneness with Me], I will also acknowledge him before My Father Who is in heaven and confess [that I am abiding in] him. But whoever denies and disowns Me before men, I also will deny and disown him before My Father Who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33 (AMP)
I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” II Samuel 6:22 (NIV)
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” II Samuel 17:45-47 (NIV emphasis added)
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT)
God’s Greatest Show of PDA: For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NLT)
written and posted by Daniel Poggensee | 2018
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