God chose Abraham out of all the peoples of the earth to be the father of a multitude of nations. He was the father of physical nations, but far more important, he was the father of a multitude of people who would follow his example of faith.
No doubt we could list several reasons why God chose Abraham. Certainly his faith would come at the top of that list. But if Abraham's faith caused God to pick him out, what was Abraham chosen to do? As far as I know, this passage is the only one that tells us what Abraham was chosen to do: he was chosen to train his children – and through them all of his descendants – to believe in God as he had and to obey him in everything.
I suspect it would not have been sufficient for God if he had just found a man who believed him but who felt it was right to keep his faith as a private matter. Abraham was not like some modern parents, even believing parents, who say "I will not force my beliefs on my children; I will leave them to choose for themselves." No, we are expected – required – to pass our faith on to the next generation.
Again and again in the history of the nation of Israel they were commanded to pass on to their children the things that God had told them and done for them. To take just one example, in (Exodus 10:2) we read that God dealt with Pharaoh "in order that you may be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I made fools of the Egyptians when I performed the miracles. All of you will know that I am the Lord."
Just as God chose Abraham that he might train his children, so too we are chosen to follow in his footsteps. But is this just a responsibility for parents? I do not believe so. When parents come to dedicate a newborn baby in our congregation, the elders always remind us that we all bear a collective responsibility towards the children. Whether we are parents or teachers or just single members of the congregation, we have all been chosen to teach the next generation God's truth and to demonstrate to them the standards which God demands of all of us.
- 30 MARCH -