One of my pet peeves as a Christian is people who use their current distress as an excuse to berate God or to abandon their faith. I have seen it pretty often, actually: individuals who converted to Christianity because what the preacher promised them sounded better than AmWay.

A quick perusal of the top ten lists in Christian nonfiction will show what I'm talking about here. Prosperity gospel preachers will bilk individuals out of their life savings on the premise of a ten-, hundred-, or thousand-fold return. It sounds better than the stock market, so a lot of retirement accounts have been depleted on the hope of financial reward.

The best analogy I can muster would be someone watching Christ preaching on the shores of Galilee. As the bread and fish are handed out, the person walks away; his belly's full for the day, his mission accomplished. I am sure that, in Jesus' time, there were far more such individuals like that than the Bible records; were it not so, the government would have never succeeded in executing Him.

If you are a Christian, you would do well to examine yourselves. Are you here for the free sushi, or are you sincerely pursuing your faith? If the latter, then the tempests of life can do little to shipwreck your faith. If the former, perhaps you may wish to consider whether or not your pursuit has been worth it.