In Rich Mullins’ 1988 song, “If I Stand” (cowritten with Steven Robert Cudworth), there is a line that captures an enduring tension in the heart of any Christian living in a material world: “The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance / I owe only to the Giver of all good things.” [1]    

       There is a paradox here, because “the stuff of earth” and “all good things” are equivalent. “The stuff of earth” that Mullins describes in the song are the rising sun, the shining moon, the warmth of a fire, the shelter of a room, the virtue of loyalty, music, the wind on the prairie, the ocean tide, the love between friends, and the gentleness of a mother toward her newborn. Clearly, the term “stuff of earth” does not represent bad things, because the stuff of earth Mullins has in mind are “all good things,” gracious gifts from God “the Giver.” And yet, these good things from God are in competition with Him for our loyalty. The implication is that “all good things,” while good in and of themselves—for they were made by God who declared them all “very good” (Genesis 1:31)—can nevertheless be bad for us when they entice us to treason. [2]