by Rev Douglas Brauner

God’s grace is the “talent” we invest in daily living.

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

“But it’s unthinkable that I could ever brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his cross my relationship to the world and its relationship to me have been crucified.” 
Galatians 6:14 God’s Word to the Nations

As my role at Holy Cross Lutheran Church has changed over the years, I have not been as directly involved with the youth, or our congregation, as I was in the past. So, it was a joy for me to lead the youth this summer on a Wednesday evening. Of course, we had to play corn-hole before we started the study. It’s funny how we all did better when we used the opposite arm than our dominant one. I found out that I am as good at corn-hole as I am at horseshoes (I’ll let you think about that one).

Then we got down to the study.

I had the young people take out their phones, walk around the property, look for crosses, and take pictures of them. They were not to look for crosses that were fashioned to be crosses, but accidental crosses (crosses that either appeared in buildings, or in nature). This picture is of one of the crosses that most of the students spotted.

Where do you see crosses? Are there crosses in your home, your place of work, or your neighborhood? Look hard and you will see them.

Paul states that he will not boast in anything, but the cross of Jesus. That’s an important comment when you consider that Paul would have a testimony to beat all testimonies in our places of worship.

Shipwrecked.

Stoned.

Beaten.

Yet he will not boast in anything, but the cross. Since we’ve focused on grace this week, it is important that the last devotion related to the parable of talents remind us that our lives are always about the death, and resurrection, of Jesus. Our lives are always about what God has done for us.

God’s grace in Jesus Christ is the talent that we are privileged to invest in this world.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado