as Saviour can experience the real ity of the many promises found in Scripture. Our future extends to all eternity. Our hope is not built upon some temporary space pro gram but upon the person of Jesus Christ. He was the One who rose from the grave triumphant. By this power He can forgive our sins and the promise of our eternal destiny in heaven. For this we must adopt God's attitudes toward earth. Have you ever stopped to con sider the Lord's purposes for your life just now? The first thing, of course, is to “put on the new man" patterned after our Saviour (3:10). Christ is trying to form Himself within us. We are to be renewed constantly. This is the purpose of the Spirit of Cod working within us. The world is very disjointed. In Christ, however, there is great un ity (vrs. 11). Recently I observed a gathering of about 100 Model T Ford own ers. The old cars had been reno vated, polished up to a beautiful luster, and brought to a condition perhaps Henry Ford himself had never really envisioned. This, in a small sense, is what the Lord is do ing to each one of us. He takes us in our original condition and makes us over, restoring that im age which He originally intended. This is His divine goal. How trag ically sin has marred the human race. We see its terrible marks on every hand. As believers, we are to show a marked difference. We are not to live in a spiritual vacuum. We are told what to take off in order to be pleasing to the Lord, but we are also exhorted as to what to put on (vrs. 12-15). There is both a nega tive as well as a positive aspect to Page 39
Dave Niquette, pictured during his Sen ior Sermon in Talbot Chapel, is pastoring the Valley Bible Church in the San Fer nando Valley. ATTITUDES Colossians is the Epistle which portrays the person of Jesus Christ and His attitude toward the world as well as toward individuals. It should be a pattern for our spiri tual growth and maturity. At the center of all our theologies and philosophies is the consuming de sire for something more to this life than just living. There must be something beyond the grave. Only the one who has placed his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
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