Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing.
“Psalm 73:25-- ‘Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.’ Packer adds, ‘Nothing, that is, that I would not consent to lose if adhering to God required it. It is a matter of wanting and valuing fellowship with [God] more than I want and value anything else in this world.’”
“[Augustine] says, in short, that you should not begin to pray for all you want until you realize that in God you have all you need. That is, unless we know that God is the one thing we truly need, our petitions and supplications may become, simply, forms of worry and lust. We can use prayer as just another way to pursue many things that we want too much. Not only will God not hear such prayers (because we ask for things selfishly to spend on our lusts [James 4:2-3]), but the prayers will not reorient our perspective and give us any relief from the melancholy burden of self-absorption.”
“Just as faith in Christ cannot accomplish or merit our salvation but is necessary to receive it—so a commitment to put God first and love and follow him supremely is necessary before God can grant our prayers without harming us. If we are living lives in which God does not have our highest allegiance, then we will use prayer instrumentally, selfishly, simply to try to get the things that may be already ruining our lives.”
Selections from Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God
by Timothy Keller
