A Christian Response to FOMO

With the changing seasons comes summer. With summer comes vacation. With vacation comes a flood of gorgeous pictures of everyone having a wonderful time. 

And with that flood of pictures comes a nasty medical condition specific to the modern day: FOMO. 

Or, as most people call it, the fear of missing out. 

FOMO isn't pleasant to experience, and I'd bet that most of us know what it feels like. To see a friend or acquaintance having a good time, and subconsciously wish that you were having that good time with them—it's not fun, is it? 

The fear of missing out on fun experiences doesn't seem like much of a problem beyond the discomfort of it. It's like any other emotion: it comes and goes, and though you try to avoid it when you can, there's not really much you can—or should—do about it. 

But the problem of FOMO goes deeper than just an annoying feeling. 

Ultimately, it's a problem of dissatisfaction. 

When we wish we were having an experience that we aren't, and when we're jealous of the happiness that others seem to possess because of those experiences, we're fundamentally dissatisfied with the life and circumstances God has given us. 

We're basically saying, "God, this life you've given me isn't good. Fix it." 

Is this how Christians are supposed to behave? 

No—but it can be really, really hard to avoid that. So, here are two things to remember to fight dissatisfaction in your life this summer. 

 

Remember the present blessings

The best way to fight unthankfulness is—surprise, surprise—to be thankful. 

This is harder than it sounds. How can we be thankful when our mind fixates on everything lacking in our lives? 

But there are actionable steps that we can take to make thankfulness easier. One that I've liked is to actually take out a piece of paper and start listing the things that I'm thankful for. 

In fact, in the process of writing this article, I just wrote my own list. Here's just a few of the entries: 

  • That I have a good school to go to
  • That I have food and am provided for 
  • That I have a good relationship with my siblings
  • That I don't have very many health struggles 
  • That our church is healthy and has so many wonderful people in it 
  • That we have access to lots of books 
  • That my friends love the Lord.

And the list goes on. By this exercise, I was able to remind myself of how many things I do have that I really don't deserve—God doesn't owe me anything, considering how much I've sinned against him! 

But God still blesses us. Because He's kind, and merciful. 

It's easier to be content when we realize how much we already have. We don't need to be like those people on Instagram or TikTok with their perfect salads and amazing cruise trips—we have enough. 

Our lives aren't perfect. Not all of us enjoy the same blessings. And in some situations, none of the items in the list above apply; the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.

But even in those situations, we can be thankful. Because here's the last item on the list: 

  • That Jesus left his perfect paradise to be flogged, humiliated, and killed, so that my sins could be forgiven.

 

Remember the future joy

When you're dealing with FOMO, remember that this world is not our home. 

Someday, all of this is going to be gone. Nothingness. Empty. 

When that happens, where will we be? 

We'll be in a place of eternal peace, rest, and love far beyond anything that we can imagine. 

What does it matter if you can't make it to that party you wanted to go to? Or if your car breaks down, and your beach vacation has to be cancelled? 

All these things are temporary. And any temporary difficulty pales in comparison to the bright radiance of joy that awaits us. 

It's so much easier to go without things now if you remember Heaven. Because, here's the thing—Heaven is infinite. No end. It just keeps going. 

It's so big our brains are too small to process it.

Forever is a long time. Compare that to our own lives—we only have to last what, 70 years? 80, if we're lucky? 

Heaven is coming, friend. Set your will to work at the grindstone of ordinary life, because it's going to be worth it in the end. 

And remember the joy that's waiting for you. It's beyond anything you can ever imagine.


FOMO is a temptation to idolize the things of the world over the things of God. 

Even when the things we're missing out on are good, they don't give us an excuse to be dissatisfied. We can still be content with what we have. 

Because we have more than we need, and we're going to have a perfect peace and rest that will free us from all dissatisfaction eternally. 

So, next time you see a picture that friend of yours has posted on social media, don't become envious. Remember that you've been given more than you deserve, and be grateful. 

May God help us to always be satisfied in Him. 

He knows that's a better place to be.

Comments

  1. IsabellaJune 23, 2022 at 8:06 PM

    This is a really relevant post! I usually want to be doing lots of things, and when I see people doing things I'm not, it doesn't feel good. But the more I focus on the Lord, the less FOMO will show up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Emma ThrasherJune 23, 2022 at 10:14 PM

      Very true! Seems like that's the answer to a lot of problems; focus on God, not yourself, and things get better.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God - Iguazu Falls, Brazil

Image
I've had several experiences in my life that make me pause and think: "The heavens really do declare the glory of God." The first was the total solar eclipse of 2017. (Kind of hard to beat the sun being replaced by a black hole.) But visiting the Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil certainly comes close.  Getting to the falls was quite the process. Our whole group piled into the van and drove over the border from Paraguay to Brazil—they didn't check our passports for some reason, so it didn't take too long—and arrived at the Iguazu Falls National Park.  All we had to do then was take a taxi or bus up to the falls themselves. And, despite several transport mishaps (including a taxi driving one group back to Paraguay instead of to the falls by mistake), we made it to Iguazu.  Iguazu Falls is the largest waterfall system in the world. Though it isn't the highest, there are 275 waterfalls on the cliffs—and if you see it in person, the sight goes bey...
Read more

The Praiseworthy Project - 30 Days of Choosing What's Beautiful

Image
At the beginning of August, I decided to try an experiment. The experiment was pretty simple. For 30 days, I wouldn't consume a lot of the secular media that I enjoyed. It was during summer break, and I've been wasting a lot of my time on entertainment—and I wasn't being very careful about what kind of entertainment it was. Why did I do this? Well, because I wanted to see what would happen. My hypothesis was that the passive entertainment that we consume on a daily basis affects us more than we think. We read and watch so many things that aren't necessarily sinful but that aren't from a Christian perspective, and the ideas soak into our brain. I wondered how this affects us. And I wondered what would happen if I did something different. I called it the Praiseworthy Project after Philippians 4:8 – "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellenc...
Read more

Psalm 24 - The Promise of Sanctification

Image
In my Bible reading recently, I read Psalm 24. It's a wonderful psalm full of profound statements about God—that's kind of how the Bible is, actually—but what I didn't realize is that it also contains one of the sweetest of God's promises to us.  I thought I'd go over that promise today with you, so let's take a look at Psalm 24, and how it promises us sanctification.  (You can read Psalm 24 here before we start, or you can follow along with the verses that I've pasted below.)   Verses 1-2 - "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers."  Right away we see God's power displayed. God owns the earth—God made the earth. Nothing in nature is more powerful than the ocean, but God made the seas.  And he also owns every person. "Those who dwell therein"—he made us, and he is the divine author of our stories.  Verses 3-4 -...
Read more