Necessary FOMO: Contentment, CoVocational Calling, and the Patience of the King

by Dave Miller

Fear of missing out is not foreign to the CoVocational life. Marketplace leaders feel it when they fear their business is not large enough, influential enough, or connected to the right circles. They fear missing a deal. Missing recognition. Missing momentum.

Mission-minded leaders feel it differently. They fear missing multiplication. Missing sustainability. Missing deeper impact because resources feel thin or time feels constrained. And when those two worlds intersect, FOMO intensifies.

The marketplace disciple begins to wonder:

Am I missing out on real ministry because I still run a business?

Should I leave this and do something more spiritual?

Am I less committed because I have not gone “full-time”?

In Western Christian culture especially, the gravitational pull toward formal ministry is strong. The unspoken hierarchy suggests that true devotion culminates in vocational ministry. So the entrepreneur who loves Jesus begins to suspect that his business may be the barrier. But the real issue is not the business. The real issue is whether he has learned contentment.

The Illusion of the Big Shift

When FOMO takes hold, massive change feels like the solution.

Move cities.

Quit the job.

Scale down the company.

Reallocate everything toward church planting.

Make a dramatic sacrifice to prove seriousness.

But the apostle Paul dismantles this reflex. In 1 Timothy 6:6 he writes:

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Not godliness with relocation.

Not godliness with resignation.

Not godliness with spectacle.

Godliness with contentment.

And in Philippians 4:11–12, Paul explains that he had to learn contentment in abundance and in lack. Contentment is not automatic. It is cultivated in place. If you cannot find joy in Christ where you are, you will not find it by changing geography, title, or income stream.

You can leave the marketplace and feel FOMO about lost influence.

You can stay in the marketplace and feel FOMO about lost ministry time.

You can move into missions and feel FOMO about sustainability.

You can scale business and feel FOMO about spiritual depth.

If contentment is absent, FOMO simply changes costumes.

Joy Is a Kingdom Product

Joy does not emerge from configuration. It emerges from communion.

Joy is not the byproduct of sacrifice itself. It is the byproduct of alignment with Jesus as Master.

The CoVocational question is not:

How do I serve Jesus better?

The deeper question is:

Am I apprenticing under Jesus in the life I already have?

If Jesus were you, how would He run that business?

How would He enter those meetings?

How would He disciple those employees?

How would He operate in that industry?

How would He plant churches while remaining present in the marketplace?

The kingdom is simultaneous. There is no sacred-secular divide in apprenticeship. The issue is not which arena you occupy. The issue is whether both feet stand under Christ’s authority.

When joy is rooted in following Jesus, obedience becomes steady rather than frantic.

The Difference Between Holy FOMO and Anxious FOMO

There is a holy form of FOMO. It is the awareness that more of the kingdom is possible. It keeps us from complacency.

But anxious FOMO whispers:

You are missing the real thing unless you change everything.

Holy FOMO says:

Do not waste the field already entrusted to you.

When contentment stabilizes identity, sacrifice becomes strategic rather than emotional. Plans become obedient rather than impulsive. Adjustments emerge from clarity, not comparison. If Jesus is truly Master, you will make necessary changes. You will restructure time. You will increase generosity. You will step into disciple-making intentionally. And if He genuinely calls you to leave something behind, you will. But you will not do so to cure insecurity. You will do so because obedience flows from joy.

The Patience of the King

One more truth must anchor this.

Jesus is not in a hurry. Look at the disciples. They misunderstood Him. Competed for status. Misread power. Fled under pressure. Yet He did not discard them. He walked with them. Corrected them. Sent them out. Brought them back. Clarified again.

Formation took time.

In Isaiah 42:3 we are told:

“A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.”

Jesus does not crush fragile obedience. He strengthens it.

And in Philippians 1:6 Paul writes:

“He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.”

He began it.

He completes it.

This dismantles performance-driven spirituality. You are not responsible for manufacturing maturity through dramatic upheaval. You are responsible for faithful response today.

In the CoVocational tension, this matters deeply. You may feel behind. You may feel late to impact. You may feel torn between arenas. But the kingdom matures organically. It grows through obedience in context.

Jesus will prune what needs pruning. He will expand what needs expanding. He will redirect when necessary. He will release you when ready. But He does not rush bruised reeds. He does not extinguish smoldering wicks.

Contentment as Great Gain

Contentment with godliness stabilizes calling. It frees the marketplace leader from needing to prove seriousness. It frees the missionary from envying sustainability. It frees both from comparison-driven FOMO.

When you have learned contentment in Christ, you are free to obey radical shifts if He truly calls for them. But those shifts will come from joy, not anxiety. From obedience, not cultural pressure. From peace, not panic.

If you cannot find joy where you are, you will not find it by reacting. But if you learn godliness with contentment, you will discover something far greater than the ministry title you feared missing:

You will discover that the kingdom was never somewhere else. It was already at hand.

The apprentice who learns contentment doesn’t have to be driven by fear of missing out. He can be driven by the steady confidence that wherever Jesus leads next, he will be ready to walk.