Dancing with David

How many of you know what the three letters PDA stand for?  If you said "Public Display of Affection" then ding, ding, ding, you win.  When I was growing up there were always two letters that went before the three letters PDA, and those two letters were NO! 

As a young person, and especially as a teenager, I heard the phrase NO PDA over and over.  The five letters even made their way into my parental repertoire of sayings passed on to my children.  There would be no handholding and absolutely no kissing in public.  Those things were also greatly discouraged in private, we just didn’t have letters for that.  It is funny how boundaries that are set up for our benefit and protection can take on a life of their own and seep into our thinking coloring every area of our life. Somehow NO PDA found its way into my spiritual life. There are definitely boundaries for displaying our spiritual affections such as...

Matthew 6:3   (MSG)

2-4"When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure—'playactors' I call them— treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.

Matthew 6:4-6  (NLT)

4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

These are boundaries that are set up to keep our relationship with God pure.  Our love is to be intimate.  It is meant to be expressed in private only for God’s pleasure.  But does that mean there is no place for PDA?

So is there ever an acceptable time for PDA?

Luke 9:26 (NLT)

26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.

2 Samuel 6:14 (MSG)

 12-16 It was reported to King David that God had prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household because of the Chest of God. So David thought, "I'll get that blessing for myself," and went and brought up the Chest of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David, celebrating extravagantly all the way, with frequent sacrifices of choice bulls. David, ceremonially dressed in priest's linen, danced with great abandon before God. The whole country was with him as he accompanied the Chest of God with shouts and trumpet blasts. But as the Chest of God came into the City of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, happened to be looking out a window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before God, her heart filled with scorn.

And then there is Jesus dying on a cross on Golgotha’s hill for the entire world to see.  Was His death a Public Display of Affection for you and me? I think it was.  So how do we sort out white t-shirts and red socks?  When the word speaks about not praying for the public recognition, or helping someone out for the accolades, or giving to be seen, those are our white t-shirts.  Prayer, acts of service, and giving are all ways we express our love for Jesus.  Purity and humility are vital to our relationship with God, but that does not mean we can’t dance in our red socks sometimes.  By that I mean that there are times, when like David, we dance openly before the world not caring who sees or judges because our love cannot be contained.  Jesus was willing to die on a cross for me so I should be willing to show my love for Him openly. 

If you are one of those people who has no problem with publicly displaying your affections, and by that I mean you have no problem hugging a stranger, than your red sock drawer is probably full and you need to check your white t-shirts and see if you are humbly expressing your love for the Lord in private.   For me, my white t-shirt drawer is pretty full, but I am not sure I have any red socks. I would say in my life I voted for whiter whites and refused to buy red socks.  I am wondering if the boundary I set up to protect me from pride and self-righteousness has robbed me of the joy of expressing my love. I think there are times when PDA is not only appropriate but also demanded. 

Food for thought:  David’s wife Michal scorned David for his PDA and the Bible says she was barren the rest of her life.  I am wondering if unexpressed love renders me barren? 

So look out world, I have bought my first pair of red socks and I bought a pair for a friend.  I don't think you can dance in red socks alone.