Pollution

"Who does this? Who is the man, or where is he that will do this, subject the worship of God to his base lusts?" (Burroughs 94, or Ch5 ¶9).

I have discovered that it is often I. I use duties like prayer and attentiveness to the preaching of the Word to cover up my sin and ease my guilty conscience. I have never spoken thus, "Who will think me to be guilty of such a vile thing when I pray as I do and am so careful to hear the Word? I hope I shall cover some wickedness this way." Rather, this has been in the deep recesses of my heart.
But after some consideration, I believe that often times I have worshiped God from a pure heart. The problem lies in my tendency to look back at the performance of particular duties in order to bring attention to them as being the reason I don't have to feel guilty over a recent outworking of sin. Since my conscious tells me that I do indeed subject the worship of God to such base ends, I have asked the Lord to rebuke me today and speak to my heart. At least in this moment, I am confident that I do not want to pollute the name of God.

So the question is this: how do I know if I am subjecting the worship of God to my own base lusts and ends?

Proverbs 20:5 ESV The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.