FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
Chosen. Redeemed. Sealed. Now, Live Like It.
As Pastor Pete shared with us at Forge this week, Ephesians 1:3–6 doesn’t ease you into the Christian life. It drops you straight into the deep end.
Chosen.
Before the foundation of the world.
Not improved. Not invited to try harder. Not waiting to see how you’d turn out.
Chosen.
That’s where the tension comes in, doesn’t it?
The doctrine of election presses on our pride. We want to believe we brought something to the table. That we figured it out. That we cleaned ourselves up enough for God to accept us. But Paul won’t let us go there.
If you are in Christ, it’s because God chose you to be in Christ. And that changes everything. Because if He chose you then, He hasn’t unchosen you now.
That’s where redemption steps in. You weren’t chosen because you were clean. You were chosen so you could be made clean.
Redeemed by Jesus.
Bought back.
Paid for in full.
Not partially fixed.
Not on a payment plan.
Completely redeemed.
Some of us hear that and still hesitate. We know our past too well. We know the habits, the failures, the years we waste. Maybe like the example Pastor Pete shared, you’ve had your own “Phil Robertson” chapter where life went off the rails, and you became someone you never thought you would be.
And maybe the question still lingers: How does a man really change?
The world says: try harder. Get disciplined. Clean yourself up.
The gospel says: you don’t start with behavior; you start with identity.
You are in Christ.
That’s not a future goal. That’s a present reality.
And then comes the part we often overlook – sealed by the Holy Spirit. God didn’t just choose you and redeem you and then leave you to hold it all together.
He sealed you.
Secured you.
Marked you as His own.
Forever.
Not until your next failure. Not until you slip back into old patterns. Forever! That means the question for us as men isn’t, “Can I lose this?” It’s, “Will I live like this is true?” Because a lot of us are walking around still thinking like the old man. Still defined by past sin, still questioning whether we really belong, still trying to earn what’s already been given. But Scripture is clear:
You were chosen.
You have been redeemed.
You are sealed.
So, live like it. Walk into your home like a man who belongs to God. Lead at work like a man who’s been bought with a price. Fight sin like a man who is no longer owned by it. And when you stumble, and you will, don’t go back to questioning whether you’re His.
Go back to remembering that you are.
Because the same God who chose you before the foundation of the world knew every chapter of your story and chose you anyway.
That’s not an excuse to stay the same.
That’s the power to become something new.
Joe Bouch
