Bereshis 18:5 Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB) And I will bring a morsel of bread, and refresh Ye Your hearts; after that Ye shall pass on; because for this purpose are Ye come to Your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

If you are not familiar with the Orthodox Jewish Bible, this is Genesis 18:5. The reason I bring this to you in this version is because of the clarity of wording used associated with purpose. The Lord came to Abraham for a purpose.

Here is the important part to me for today, not the messages so much as Abraham’s actions. If you stop and look at Abraham’s actions prior to the messages being received, you can see covenant communion. All Abraham’s words and actions align themselves with his covenant communion with the Lord.

Now let us skip forward to this present time and our covenant relationship with our Lord. The Old Testament covenant differs greatly from our New Testament covenant. The Lord does not come to us, He abides in us. One thing that has not changed is His purpose. He still speaks to us with purpose, to accomplish two things. He fulfills His Father’s will and He includes us by revealing His mind to us.

This is covenant communion but have we done our part to reflect the same kind of respect of relationship which Abraham showed in Genesis 18?

Jesus said that He no longer calls us servant but rather friend, but does that relinquish us of our responsibility to respect the relationship? Have we taken Him from granted? Do we entreat Him with casual indifference?

He is sharing His life with us. Are we sharing our lives with Him?

Ephesians 1:18-19 (KJV) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Ephesians 1:18-19 (ESV) having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

I bring these verses to you in the KJV and the ESV to make an important point. There is a huge difference between knowing something in your mind and knowing something in your heart.

Romans 10:10 (KJV) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

We might having something right in our minds but wrong in our hearts. There is a subtle difference between being right and being right with God. When we take it to mean that righteousness only has to deal with being right, we leave God out of the equation. We should understand that Romans 10:10 is indicating a right standing with God.

Psalm 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

In order for us to know our true hearts we need to be tested.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

There can be a distinction between what we know in our minds and our hearts. Leave it to God to show us where we need correction, whether in the mind or the heart.