living loved

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – Luke 12:15

We’ve all done it. We’re all guilty of experiencing it: FOMO. The fear of missing out. And while I couldn’t capture a true picture of me also experiencing FOMO (because I was too busy experiencing it or what others were doing that was causing it), this little image does it justice. Our minds wander. We think about everything and everyone and all the things that they’re doing that we are not doing and the lack of fun in our lives that we just go ahead and miss out on life. I could have put a collage together of all the other fun things that everyone else is doing that I am not, but that is just petty . . . and there’s the FOMO.

God’s word has a lot to say about FOMO. There were so many good GOD verses to choose from but Luke 12 sums it up because when we have FOMO, really what were doing is coveting. And coveting is gross. The actual definition of covetousness is: FOMO. Just kidding – it is: the feeling of STRONG desire to have the things other people have. These other things don’t have to be material things. These other things can be their happiness, joy, laughter, friends, events, and these other things can be the most difficult to get over. Material things are superficial fleeting, but the desire to want what other people get to experience can lead us into bitterness, envy, jealousy, and you guessed it: covetousness.

When we allow the enemy to plant those seeds of envy and desire, really what we are doing is comparing our life to theirs. And comparison is the thief of joy. It is a joy stealer. Comparison takes the clarity of our own mirrors of God’s goodness and grace and replaces it with a steamed up version of someone else’s. The end result: everything but joy.

And don’t be mistaken. God’s word says to be on guard. This doesn’t just happen when you’re scrolling and you see the new house build, or you didn’t get the invite, or you didn’t come up with the great idea for a date night, or your kiddos birthday didn’t look like the party-planning-mom-of-the-year-party-of-the-decade. No, no, no. This also can happen when you see the good things in someone’s life that they worked hard for, or the ministry that is flourishing, or the mission trip you weren’t able to take – this covetousness happens with the Jesus lover, too, friend. Which is why we need to be on guard.

The difference between the two? When we have Christ, we can get back on track. When we have Christ, we can stop scrolling, put the little electronic devil down, and we can get down on our knees and pray. We can remember that this life is but a vapor. We can remember that our home is not here. We can remember that all good things are from above and that this life does not consist of our abundance of possessions (material, physical and/or emotional) but that our life in Him, consists of eternity.

Friends, I don’t know who needs reminded of this, but you are not alone. You are loved. You are not missing out; rather, our life is not even complete until eternity, so we keep persevering. We keep running our race with our eyes fixed on the Perfecter of our faith. You are not missing out; God is just getting started.

Keep your eyes on Him. He promises He will never leave you nor forsake you, and with a promise like that, what else do we need?

XOXO, Loni