Faith for the World--by Linden Malki

"Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." ... "Noah was a righteous  man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. "   These are the first references the NIV has to "faith", and the other translations use the words  righteous, blameless,  just, fellowship,  to describe Enoch and Noah. They were unique in their day; we are told that Enoch was taken directly to God without dying, and Noah was given a project that would make him and his family the only survivors of the Flood. There is more to "faith" than merely believing in something; Enoch and Noah were described as living lives that were interacting with God.

The next major example of faith is Abraham, who also acted what he learned to believe-to the point of major relocation to a land he'd never known, but one that was a promise. His grandson Jacob also was called by God, and he and his family were relocated again, this time to Egypt. At first, it was their physical salvation, but it became an intolerable trap.  What had started with one man (Enoch), and then a man and his immediate family (Noah); a man and several generations down that were learning more about God (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and more), and then it came back around to one man and a nation of twelve tribes.  At this point, God arranged for them to leave Egypt and make their way back to the ancestral homeland that Abraham had been called to settle. And in addition to speaking to individuals, God spoke words that were intended for not only this group of people, but are the best guide to living a good life for all people. And they were given in a wilderness that was not a specific home, but applicable in all places and all time.

Jesus, who grew up in a society based on this law, was open to the needs of not only the Jews, but of anyone who came to him. This included Romans, Greeks, Phoenicians, Samaritans, that we know of, who had the original scriptures in Greek as well as Hebrew and Aramaic.  We have records of at least five Gentiles and Samaritans who were healed by Jesus, and several more who had interacted with John the Baptist or Jesus, and one who was the hero of one of Jesus most powerful parables--and all of Jesus' interactions with them showed His love for them--and for us.

The "chosen-ness" of the Jews was never intended to be an exclusive thing; they were the pilot project, charged with spreading the powerful words of God to the world. This message is an interplay of belief and behavior that changes lives and destinies. Faith in God changes how we think, and allows more and more of our lives to grow into His Word.