Prayer is the product of [our] passion for people... Unaffected fervency in prayer is not whipped-up emotionalism but the overflow of [our] love for brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. That means that if we are to improve our praying, we must strengthen our loving. As we grow in disciplined, self-sacrificing love, so we will grow in intercessory prayer. Superficially fervent prayers devoid of such love are finally phony, hollow, shallow.
D.A. Carson

CCVII. The True Motive.

EPH. vi. 1. “For this is right.”

I. ALL human action is founded on motive.
1. Good.
2. Bad.
3. Mixed.
II. Only one motive can sustain a man through all the
discipline of right: “This is right.”
III. Other motives are unworthy of adoption.
1. This is pleasant.
2. This is profitable.
3. This is popular.
Let all fall before the Divine word—”This is right.”
Apply the text to young men in temptation, business
men in speculation, public men in crises, etc.
J. P.

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