prosperity gospel

I recently read a post about "secretly believing the prosperity gospel", and the thing that strikes me the most is how much I still subscribe to this whole karma deal.

Take going to morning prayer for example. I think somehow by my faithfulness that God is going to bless me with more joyful, happier days. I'm putting my blessings on layaway. Somehow, even when I hate God, if I remain faithful to Him, He'll pull through.

That's one too many "if's". What if I forgot to do all those things? Would God stop loving me?

It's not because the ifs that I can successfully achieve. Everything starts and ends with God. He loves me first, and so I change. It is not because I change that He loves me.

On top of that, I just thought about something. We have an e-mail chain going about season tickets next year, and I know some people aren't gonna get tickets. Being the passionate fan (a.k.a crazy, stupid person) I am, I mentioned "fair-weather" fanhood and how we shouldn't be like that. I get it from my love of reading Michigan sports blogs like mgoblog; the authors' passion for their school is clear. These guys have an extreme condescension for fair-weatherers (or, bandwagon jumpers): those who only root for their team when things are going well and bash it every other year. (For Michigan, that means these past two years were bashing years). And I share the same scorn for those fans, even though I complain a whole lot as we're sucking it up on the field.

Aren't we all "fair-weather fans?" So.. what if I faithfully serve God and follow after Him even when I doubt and struggle. Where's my reward? Eventually, I know that I'm going to get bitter if things don't get better soon. I'm definitely along for the good years, not for the bad. And when I wake up in the morning and don't feel like loving God anymore, do I just drop Him and go root for something else?

What is the prosperity gospel, anyway, except the story of a bunch of fans who think that they deserve some return for their cheers?

It's not right for me to stop being a fan just because they're losing. Chris, do you love winning, or do you love your team? (side note: I respect Detroit Lions fans a whole lot.)