by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Holding on to the Promise of Eternal Life

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 English Standard Version

At one time, this flywheel was an important player in bringing ore to the surface, ore that hopefully contained gold. My gut tells me that this wheel went round and round for hours upon hours.

This flywheel has stopped turning and become a relic of a prosperous past. It no longer functions, it cannot.

Have any of your “wheels” come to a stop recently? A child left for college? A job came to an end? A marriage dissolved? Sometimes wheels come to a slow stop, and sometimes they stop without warning. We might be prepared for the “wheel” to quit working, or it may surprise us, but inevitably, wheels stop, they do not turn forever.

Even when the “wheel” stops because of a positive change in our lives, it can be difficult for us to adjust to our new reality. We know that is a good thing when a child goes away to college. We know that holding on to our child is the worse things we can do, but we’re not ready for the empty bedroom and the empty chair at the dining room table.

When the “wheel” comes to a stop, we do not need to lose heart. Paul focused on the one wheel that will never stop turning. We have eternity waiting for us in Christ Jesus, whose wheel stopped when he died, but began turning three days later and has not stopped turning since.

God’s gift of eternal life will always turn.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado