“Spirituality is best manifested on the ground, not in the air. Rapturous day-dreams, flights of heavenly fancy, longings to see the Invisible, are less expensive than than the plain doing of duty. To have bread excite thankfulness and a drink of water send the heart to God is better than sighs for the unattainable. To plow a straight furrow on Monday or dust room well on Tuesday or kiss a bumped forehead on Wednesday is worth more than the most ecstatic thrill under Sunday eloquence. Spirituality is seeing God in the common things, and showing God in common tasks.”
Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) American clergyman in 1663 Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical, compiled by Charles Noel Douglas (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1917) 886. Babcock was the author of the famous song, This is My Father’s World.
Today I am teaching on “The Economy of God in the Scriptures: A Biblical Theology for Integrating Faith and Work” and lest that sound too lofty, it is essentially demonstrating that God has an economy, a plan, a design, that brings all things together in Him, both in heaven and on earth, and it is rooted in Christ (cf. Ephesians 1:9-10)! The world’s teaching is contrary to the economy of God, so the truth must be set forth with love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith (cf. 1 Timothy 1:4-5). Lastly, God’s economy, His plan, is worked out through the Church (cf. Ephesians 3:8-10). That’s us. How can we do this in a manner that exhibits Christian generosity? Babcock says it best: by “showing God in common tasks.”