A Froot Loop Faith

No generic cereal can measure up to the real Froot Loops. Similarly, when it comes to our view of God and faith, we need the real thing -- no compromises!

I hate generic cereal. Not one person in this world can convince me that the Nice! brand Fruit Circles bears any resemblance to Kellogg’s original Froot Loops. I understand I can save $2.00 per box. No matter; it’s a non-compromise situation for me.

Why do I share this? Because on a recent trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan (a town known for its German roots, Bavarian architecture, and for having the world’s largest Christmas store!), I got to thinking about fake things and real things. One of my favorite stores was the Frankenmuth Clock & German Gift Co., a 150-year-old store that sells intricate clocks that emerged from the Black Forest area of Germany.

I found many clocks I adored. But they were all $500 and up. I can afford a $5 box of Froot Loops, but my budget simply won’t stretch as far as to get me a non-essential Hermle German Clock.

My exact comment to my dad as we walked out was, “If I had a lot of disposable income, this is what I would spend it on!” Instead, I walked out with a little hand-cranked musical box that was $25. It was simple, but I knew its roots weren’t in that mountainous range of Germany!

When Compromising Is Not a Great Idea

I say this because as we drove home I thought about how in life there are lots of things we can compromise on and these compromises have very little impact on us. Why go to Lululemon when Target will suffice? A Cubic zirconium over a diamond? That works sometimes. Touching up a wall vs. painting the entire thing? Sure.

But one thing we cannot compromise on is our pursuit of God. God cannot be Fruit Circles or $25 hand-cranked musical boxes. As we seek to find our faith again, we must believe that finding the real God is a matter of life and death. “What comes into our minds when we think about God,” A.W. Tozer wrote in his masterful The Knowledge of the Holy, “is the most important thing about us.”

We must never substitute a fake and false view of God with the real thing. We must never settle for lukewarm faith when God longs for us to walk closely with him.

As we wander around and compromise on various things in life, God prays for us, holds our tears, counts the hairs on our heads, calls us the apple of his eye, promises to never leave us, and waits for us.

Our faith is the one thing in life that — regardless of what it will cost us — cannot be substituted or compromised on. And this, dear friends, requires our whole selves pursuing God and asking God to help us and heal us.

I have to admit that am guilty of making both God and my faith into Fruit Circles! I have taken low views of God and counted him as irrelevant as long as I had friends to turn to. I have taken high views of God and believed that he didn’t care if I prayed to him or not.

As I leafed my way through my list of most-loved limericks (you know I love limericks), I couldn’t find one I liked to make my point here, so ChatGPT did it for me when I typed in “write a funny limerick about searching for God.”

This is what it came up with:

“In a quest for God, I did roam, Searched high and low, even my home. But in my sock drawer, I found nothing more, Than lost socks and an old garden gnome!”

Sometimes, as we search for God, we look in all the wrong places! ChatGPT isn’t perfect, but I like this visual that sometimes how we see God is too small. God in a sock drawer? Ridiculous!

If God is going to be the bonafide Froot Loops of our lives, we need to commit ourselves to pursue him with our whole hearts, even if it costs a little bit more.

If God is going to be the bonafide Froot Loops of our lives, we need to commit ourselves to pursue him with our whole hearts, even if it costs a little bit more.

A Froot Loop Faith

As of late, I have been in the Psalms. I will be honest that I have a love/hate relationship with the Psalms. Praise Psalms like “Hope in God!” I can get behind. Imprecatory Psalms — those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses upon one's enemies — have always been more difficult for me. If God will reign justice down upon others, what’s to stop him from doing the same to me? I wonder in panic.

I’d much rather have a world of mercy than justice.

Praise God that indeed he is merciful and gracious!

Whatever our stance on the Psalms, one thing cannot be denied: the authors had a Froot Loop faith. It’s full-hearted, real, honest, and raw. It isn’t peppered with commercialized ideas of a God who looks like us. It doesn’t stop and say, “I won’t go any further.” It’s all laid out, bare.

Let me tell you what a real God looks like:

• He suffers and dies simply because he loves us.

• He is always watching out for us and praying for us.

• He never tires of forgiving us and bringing us back to his family.

• He holds up the universe and catches our tears.

• He holds the test of time and will never, ever, ever stop loving us.

Now let me tell you what I think a real faith looks like:

• We thank God and we ask God for help. (This can be a minute or 120 minutes!)

• We ask God to show us more of himself and we look for ways he does that.

• We make ourselves available to others so that they can see a little bit of God in us.

• We love as hard as we can even when it’s hard.

• We forgive as much as we can even when it hurts.

I could buy the Hermle German Clock. But it would cost me quite a bit. I will compromise with my handheld clock.

I could also eat Fruit Circles. But I won’t. Because some things — God and Froot Loops — just cannot be compromised on.

All of us need the real thing.

📚 Homework Time!

First, consider God. Has your view of God been compromised? If so, how? Has your view of God gotten too low, as if it doesn’t really matter if you believe or not? Has your view of God gotten so high that you cannot understand how to relate to him so you give up? Has your view of God gotten stagnant, like a relationship that needs a kick-start?

Second, consider your faith. What about your own faith? Is it real, or are you going through the motions? Do you know that every second of every day God adores you beyond measure? Saint Augustine once said, “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” That’s good!

Do you believe this? If so, does it impact how you live and love? If not, can it? What does a real, authentic faith look like for you? I’d love to hear about it!

Sure, Froot Loops are bad for you. But boy are they yummy.

God, however, is good, all the time. I guess if I had to pick, I’d pick the real God over Froot Loops any day of the week.

Much love to you,

❤️ Laurie