What is FOMO and how can Christians Fight it?

Ever felt like there’s a thing that you don’t want to miss even though you aren’t sure of its existence? Many Christians are in your exact shoes. You think you need that thing but you don’t have it at the moment. Yet, it somehow seems to control your mind so much that you want to do anything to have it.

This is exactly what FOMO is. It is the maybes and what-ifs that we always have. “Maybe my friends will forget about me,” “what if I don’t get that job?” In this post, we will look at what FOMO is and how you can overcome it as a Christian.

What is FOMO?

It is important to understand what FOMO is to lay a proper foundation for this post. A school of thought explains FOMO as a pervasive apprehension of anxiety that makes one feel others are enjoying what you are not. This feeling makes one want to remain connected to others and what they are doing.

FOMO is simply an acronym for the “Fear Of Missing Out.” It almost seems like everyone these days exhibits some form of FOMO. How do we know? This anxiety manifests in several ways. For some people, they scroll through social media for several hours. In other cases, a person chases after every offer that appears in their email.

The problem with FOMO is that when left unchecked, it consumes one’s time and steals your peace of mind. In the end, you’d be left with nothing and a broken heart. This leads us to the question, “how can Christians fight FOMO?”

Fighting FOMO

FOMO has always existed even though we only recently discovered a name for it. Social media and different news channels have made it easier to fall into this trap. By simply scrolling through your social media timeline, you could get worked up at missing out on what everyone is seemingly enjoying. 

In this section, we will show you how you can deal with FOMO as a Christian. Let’s get started.

Don’t forget your lens

Let’s be candid with ourselves. A lot that appears online looks natural and spontaneous. However, most of these things have been curated painstakingly beforehand. Most of what you see on social media is a farce. People go extra lengths to impress and make others feel like they are doing well.

Haven’t you noticed that you always want to post only the pictures that look great? We all like to share the happy moments, those validating moments, and amazing accomplishments. People will hardly share their failures or mistakes on social media on their own accord. This is the normal trend and it has been that way even before social media was invented.

It is because of this that you should never forget your lens when viewing what others post. Your life is never going to be as attractive as what you are seeing on someone’s highlight or reels. Not because God isn’t going to bless you but because their lives aren’t that flawless as well. 

There is always the temptation to find out what they are doing so that you can apply the same principle. You are likely going to have a push to compete with the reality that appears on your timeline. That’s FOMO at work and Paul warned against this in 2 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV): “Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding”.

Decide on What Matters

You cannot have everything even if you are the richest person on earth. Everyone has to miss out on something and you are not exempted from this list. What this means is that you need to decide on what matters to you.

A good way to make this decision is to provide answers to certain questions. One such question is, “what stands as the most important thing to you in the world?” Another question is, “what can you not do without?

Jesus emphasized that we cannot serve two masters. You can only be loyal to one and despise the other, love one, and hate the other.

It is impossible to be equally committed to different ventures or aspirations. Decide on what truly matters to you. Now, put in the effort required to chase after it. It is only a matter of time before you achieve that goal.

JOMO instead of FOMO

JOMO is simply the “Joy Of Missing Out.” It is the opposite of FOMO and it what we should cultivate.

As we explained above, it is inevitable to miss out on certain things. You can’t escape this, nobody can. Each day comes with several opportunities, it is impossible to utilize all of them. Not because you are irresponsible but because that’s just the way it was meant to be.

Since it is impossible not to miss out, why get worked up over missing out. This is where JOMO comes in. Instead of driving yourself crazy over missing out or fighting it, JOMO helps you to embrace it. Choosing JOMO shows that you accept that you are human and wouldn’t have everything or be everywhere.

This way, you can focus your attention on what matters, chase after it, and achieve your goal. The interesting thing about this is that when you do, it seems like you have everything. You must learn to step away from the distraction of FOMO. Look at what you have or can achieve and be satisfied with it.

Conclusion

There is so much we want in and from life, however, we should have one priority, the Kingdom of God. If what you desire so much doesn’t lead you to this destination, then it is not worth worrying about. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” – Matthew 6:33 (ESV).