Out of sight, out of mind, is an idiom of the past. It means it is easy to forget about someone when you have not seen them for a long time. A form of that statement is as old as Homer’s Greek Odyssey (ca. 50 b.c.). Unless something jogs my memory, I have forgotten nearly all my school and college friends and teachers. Why? Because I have not seen or connected with them for decades.
I have childhood memories of Christmas. I experienced a memorable encounter with the Christ of Christmas when I was five years old. However, I have continued having similar encounters with Him multiple times a week. This happens as I reflect on Bible passages and talk with Him in prayer. I do not forget Him because I connect with Him so frequently. In fact, I have a deeper sense of bonding with Him today than I did in my earlier years.
I recently reflected on Isaiah 33. Those living in Jerusalem then had once encountered God. But through the years, their memories of those times had fossilized. As they did, their faith also had become dry, hollow tradition or rhetoric. Their experiences had become empty memories. We find the same thing had happened to Christ-followers in Ephesus. The beginning of their faith journey started around the time the apostle Paul visited their city. Acts 19 records something unbelievably powerful that had dramatically transformed their lives to the point. All kinds of witches and warlocks came out of the woodwork with their books of spells and incantations and made a huge bonfire of them. Someone estimated their worth at fifty thousand silver coins (Acts 19:19, MSG). At the price of silver today, they burned books worth millions of dollars. It would require something extremely dramatic to motivate someone to burn that kind of money!
Approximately 30 years later, something had drastically changed. While their mental belief and behavior remained stellar, through the apostle John (one of their former pastors), Christ told them they had left their first love for Him. The consequence of their secret heart change was stunning. He told them in Revelation 2:5 that unless they had a fresh life-giving encounter with Him, they would end up alongside the heathen. What had happened in those thirty years that was so different? It had nothing to do with their understanding of God or their behavior. The out of sight, out of mind idiom had taken its frightening toll.
We can know all about the Christmas story. We can understand Jesus’ life and death. We can do and say all the right things. We can sing Christmas carols, read the story of Jesus’ birth, watch or act out the Christmas drama. But if the awe of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us has become “old school” or just tradition, we have fallen prey to the idiom out of sight, out of mind.
We restore a warm relationship by considering how you became disconnected. Then intentionally taking time to again spending one-on-one time with that friend. It works the same way in your relationship with God. It may feel awkward when you initially seek reconnection with a friend or with God. But persistence with an open heart that is seeking His presence will result in a fresh, life-giving, and fruitful relationship.