In all our duties, whether giving or praying, the great thing to be kept in mind is, that we have a heart-searching and all-knowing God. Everything like formality, being artificial, or mere bodily service, is abominable and worthless in God’s sight. He takes no account of the quantity of money we give, or the quantity of words we use. The one thing at which His all-seeing eye looks at is the nature of our motives, and the state of our hearts. Our Father sees in secret.
— J. C. Ryle (1816 – 1900)