Readers Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, September 14, 2012 Read - Genesis 13 & 14 What does it mean to be chosen? That is the fundamental question that readers of the Bible will need to answer at this point in the story. Does being chosen mean being granted privilege? Or, does being chosen mean having a mission? Was Abraham chosen so that he and his descendants might gain the advantage of being blessed as God’s special people? Or, was Abraham chosen so that he and his descendants would be used by God on behalf of all the rest of the people? Getting the answer to this question right will determine how we hear the rest of the Bible story. I think that being chosen means the second alternative – being chosen means having a mission – being chosen is for the sake of the rest of the world’s people. To be sure God blesses Abraham. But that is not the main point in the story of Abraham being chosen by God. The first two stories proclaim that concept clearly – Abraham gives Lot the choice of the land – Abraham rescues Lot from captivity in the collateral damage that unfolds from the war of the kings in the territory Lot has chosen. Abraham has a mission. In return Abraham is blessed again by God in the peculiar encounter he has with Melchizedek – the priest of Salem. We will need to wait a long time to re-encounter Melchizedek. The wait will be worth it as we come to Jesus, the Messiah, one who comes in the order of Melchizedek.