Quotable

The test by which all conduct must finally be judged is motive....Unfortunately...religious activity...can be carried on for reasons that are not good....[T]he Pharisees...prayed, but they prayed to be heard of men....They judged sin and stood against it when they found it in others, but...from self-righteousness and hardness of heart....Their activities had about them an outward appearance of holiness, and those same activities if carried on out of pure motives would have been good and praiseworthy. The whole weakness of the Pharisees lay in the quality of their motives.

That this is not a small matter may be gathered from the fact that those orthodox and proper religionists went on in their blindness till they at last crucified the Lord of glory....Many a solo is sung to show off; many a sermon is preached as an exhibition of talent; many a church is founded as a slap at some other church. Even missionary activity [and]...soul winning may degenerate into a sort of brush-salesman project to satisfy the flesh. Do not forget, the Pharisees were great missionaries and would compass sea and land to make a convert....

Not [only] what but why will be the important question when we Christians appear at the judgment seat to give account of the deeds done in the body.

A. W. Tozer

The Root of the Righteous, pp 89-91