An Answer to a Question about God’s Chosen People

[My teenage daughter] has been really struggling with why God has a chosen people...and why she isn't one of them.  Any suggestions on how I can explain this to her?

How about this?

God’s chose the Jews, the Israelites, the family of Abraham for a particular purpose - a particular task. They were called to be the tool that God used to deal with the problem of sin. They were chosen to be the light of the world. Their choosing wasn’t about God playing favorites. Indeed, God held his chosen people to a higher standard because they had received more knowledge of him than other nations. However, Israel as a whole failed in their task to be the light of the world. They failed in their task. But God wasn’t done with his plan. He had one Jew, one member of the family of Abraham, who would be the light of the world and be used to deal with the problem of sin: Jesus. Jesus was the real chosen one and summed up everything that Israel was chosen to do in the first place. Most importantly, all those who have faith in Jesus become children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7-9). Paul says non-Jews who have faith in Christ are grafted into Israel (Romans 11:11-31). This is why Peter can call Christians a chosen people (1 Peter 2:9). But that was God’s plan all the time. He chose Abraham and his family for their task so that all the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:2-3). You can see this idea of those who have faith in Jesus being considered chosen or elect in numerous places (Ephesians 1:3-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15; 2 Timothy 1:9; John 15:16-17; Colossians 3:12-14; 2 Timothy 2:10). Therefore, if [your daughter] has faith, she is a part of God’s chosen people.