FOMO

“FOMO is a catchy acronym that stands for ‘fear of missing out.’ According to Urban Dictionary it is ‘the state of mental or emotional strain caused by the fear of missing out; a compulsive concern that one might miss an opportunity or satisfying event.’ It’s a joke, a hashtag; an adorable acronym that unfortunately describes deep insecurity that dwells in each of us. It is at the root of every sin: the panic that if we obey God we will miss out on something good. It is why we neglect God’s call to go to the ends of the earth, because what if we miss out on time with our friends and community here? What if we miss out on marriage? What if we miss out on some career opportunity? … I can’t shake the thought that God wired our hearts to experience FOMO. While the design has been sabotaged by our enemy, what if it was originally programmed into us to drive us to God? What if we fled from sin because it threatened to cause us to miss out on God? What if we felt so much horror at the thought of missing out on displaying God’s glory that we refused to waste our lives?” (Fabienne Harford, “Have No FOMO,” The Gospel Coalition, January 29, 2015, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/have-no-fomo/).