FOMO – it’s a thing. It stands for “fear of missing out.” While the slang term is new, the feeling is as old as time.
It began in the garden with the serpent calling God’s motives into question. Satan planted the smallest seed of doubt and, just like that, Eve feared that she was missing out on something. She became convinced that God was withholding something good from her.
It’s possibly the greatest danger to come along with the use of social media. We have this glimpse into people’s lives and we forget that we are only seeing what they want us to see. We forget that every image is filtered and cropped.
As we study other people’s activities and relationships, Satan begins to plant seeds of doubt.
You are missing out.
They are having a great time.
Their lives are so much more fun than yours.
It wasn’t true in the garden and it isn’t true now. Can we all just accept that no one is having a great time all the time? We all have good times. We all have bad times. We are not missing out.
Just the other day, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and saw that several people I knew had gotten together. My first reaction was that I was missing out on something fun. I feared that because I wasn’t involved in that particular gathering, I was going to be on the outside looking in from now on.
FOMO.
Thankfully, I have been pondering fear and my determination to live unafraid for 365 days. I stopped that thought train right in its tracks. I am finding that to be the key to living unafraid – taking every thought captive.
take every thought captive to obey Christ. – 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV
It isn’t as easy as it sounds. But I’m getting better.
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Stacy <3
