Out of Sight, Out of Mind and the Struggle for Missionary Priorities

Perhaps God has something to teach us if we’re willing to posture ourselves to listen and learn from voices beyond our homogenous echo chambers.

Certain clichés provide light-hearted relief for unhealthy practices.

“Better late than never” – You know, the assignment you submitted in college far after the pre-determined deadline or the birthday gift you bought for your wife three days after her actual birthday.
“There’s always tomorrow” – That home repair project that is 90 percdent complete or the workout regime that you just never can seem to start.

Lurking behind these common statements are foolish, irresponsible, and sometimes even sinful, practices that wreak havoc on our lives. One common cliché that deserves some reflection has to do with our perceptions: “Out of sight, out of mind.”

This quip is used to denote matters that seem to slip from our consciousness with ease if they are not continually before our eyes.

Sadly, God’s passion for the lost, particularly within the unreached nations of the world, can become “out of sight, out of mind” even for the most missionary-minded among us.

Amid the sundry of demands vying for a disciple’s attention, the church’s concern over the heart-breaking, soul-stirring, prayer-motivating, action-demanding passion to see the truth of the good news of Jesus known and worshipped by all peoples of the earth can be lost.

The Nations as God’s Priority

While the nations may be out of sight and out of mind for us, one thing is certain—the nations are central to God’s thoughts and actions. We know the priority God places on the nations by considering the abundance of attention this theme receives in Scripture. A cursory scan of the scriptural storyline brings this theme to the forefront.

In Genesis, we see a God who creates with the divine intention that the entire earth would be filled with image-bearing worshippers. Following the introduction of human treachery, we see a reiteration of this command to Noah and his family, as God repopulates the earth with those made in his image designed to worship him.