5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: Don't harden your heart | 5 Minutes with Jesus | May 11, 2026
- Many people have had their hearts hardened by life.
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- And when bitterness
- 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:04.694
- Or unforgiveness is allowed to fester in the heart.
- 00:00:04.694 --> 00:00:07.797
- The heart becomes hardened to the goodness of god.
- 00:00:07.797 --> 00:00:11.201
- One of the things
- 00:00:11.201 --> 00:00:12.469
- That many people struggle with is the concept of a good god.
- 00:00:12.469 --> 00:00:15.872
- Yet a hard life
- 00:00:15.872 --> 00:00:17.540
- Is a daily prayer of mine to keep my heart tender.
- 00:00:17.540 --> 00:00:21.711
- It's clear in this parable that the seed is the word of god.
- 00:00:21.711 --> 00:00:25.815
- Let's keep our hearts tender and open, ready to receive
- 00:00:25.815 --> 00:00:30.487
- God's word.
- 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:37.127
- I read something recently
- 00:00:37.694 --> 00:00:38.928
- That has stuck with me, and it made me think it was this
- 00:00:38.928 --> 00:00:43.766
- The greatest enemy of the best is not the worst.
- 00:00:43.766 --> 00:00:48.037
- It's the second best.
- 00:00:48.037 --> 00:00:50.840
- I thought about that for a while. why?
- 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:52.408
- Why would that be true?
- 00:00:52.408 --> 00:00:54.210
- I think partly because the worst would be obvious
- 00:00:54.210 --> 00:00:57.747
- When we could see what's right
- 00:00:57.747 --> 00:00:59.048
- And good, and then we could see what's wrong and clearly bad.
- 00:00:59.048 --> 00:01:02.685
- It's easier to walk away from
- 00:01:02.685 --> 00:01:04.954
- What's more difficult to walk away from second best,
- 00:01:04.954 --> 00:01:09.092
- Because it still looks kind of good is clearly not evil,
- 00:01:09.092 --> 00:01:12.662
- But it's not god's best.
- 00:01:12.662 --> 00:01:15.398
- I think the one of the parables jesus told recorded
- 00:01:15.398 --> 00:01:17.901
- In luke's gospel and also in matthew's gospel,
- 00:01:17.901 --> 00:01:21.004
- Is the one we refer to as the parable of the sower
- 00:01:21.004 --> 00:01:24.741
- That would
- 00:01:25.041 --> 00:01:26.209
- Remind you of the story as it's told in luke's gospel.
- 00:01:26.209 --> 00:01:29.345
- So a farmer went out to plant a seed.
- 00:01:29.345 --> 00:01:32.348
- As he scattered it across his field.
- 00:01:32.348 --> 00:01:34.284
- Some seed fell on a footpath
- 00:01:34.284 --> 00:01:36.286
- Where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it.
- 00:01:36.286 --> 00:01:39.255
- Other seed fell among rocks.
- 00:01:39.255 --> 00:01:41.491
- It began to grow,
- 00:01:41.491 --> 00:01:42.692
- But the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture.
- 00:01:42.692 --> 00:01:46.262
- Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it
- 00:01:46.262 --> 00:01:49.566
- And choked out the tender plants.
- 00:01:49.566 --> 00:01:52.502
- Still other seed fell on fertile ground.
- 00:01:52.502 --> 00:01:55.638
- This seed grew and produced a crop
- 00:01:55.638 --> 00:01:57.674
- That was 100 times as much as had been planted.
- 00:01:57.674 --> 00:02:01.411
- When he had said this, he called out, anyone
- 00:02:01.411 --> 00:02:04.447
- Who has ears to hear should listen and understand.
- 00:02:04.447 --> 00:02:08.585
- So the crowd had gathered to listen that day.
- 00:02:08.585 --> 00:02:10.853
- This would be a pretty familiar picture.
- 00:02:10.853 --> 00:02:13.690
- It's quite possible
- 00:02:13.690 --> 00:02:14.857
- That jesus was looking at a saw while telling the story.
- 00:02:14.857 --> 00:02:17.860
- So what does this parable tell us about our lives today?
- 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:21.731
- About how you and i should live?
- 00:02:21.731 --> 00:02:23.866
- Let's look at where the first seed fell.
- 00:02:24.734 --> 00:02:27.637
- Common ground in palestine in those days was split into long,
- 00:02:27.637 --> 00:02:31.407
- Narrow strips, and between the strips there were paths
- 00:02:31.407 --> 00:02:34.777
- Which were public walkways, so they were trampled on daily.
- 00:02:34.777 --> 00:02:38.881
- When the seed fell on those paths,
- 00:02:38.881 --> 00:02:40.683
- Which were as hard as the limestone rock just underneath
- 00:02:40.683 --> 00:02:43.686
- The surface, had no chance of really getting in.
- 00:02:43.686 --> 00:02:46.823
- Have you ever thought that if you could have seen
- 00:02:47.824 --> 00:02:49.859
- Jesus perform
- 00:02:49.859 --> 00:02:50.927
- His miracles, heard his teaching directly from him,
- 00:02:50.927 --> 00:02:54.364
- It would be so much easier to believe.
- 00:02:54.364 --> 00:02:57.000
- One of the things
- 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:58.101
- I find most interesting and in the new testament,
- 00:02:58.101 --> 00:03:00.670
- Is the number of times that people would hear
- 00:03:00.670 --> 00:03:03.106
- The same message from christ.
- 00:03:03.106 --> 00:03:05.174
- See the same spectacular miracles,
- 00:03:05.174 --> 00:03:08.011
- Yet respond totally differently.
- 00:03:08.011 --> 00:03:11.047
- I find it fascinating that the crowd who were there
- 00:03:11.047 --> 00:03:13.383
- The day that christ brought
- 00:03:13.383 --> 00:03:14.884
- Lazarus back from the dead went in different directions.
- 00:03:14.884 --> 00:03:19.289
- Some fell on their knees and worshiped and believed,
- 00:03:19.289 --> 00:03:22.358
- While others walked away determined to get rid of jesus.
- 00:03:22.358 --> 00:03:26.996
- Now they saw exactly the same thing.
- 00:03:26.996 --> 00:03:29.966
- So what was different?
- 00:03:29.966 --> 00:03:31.768
- The difference was the condition of their hearts.
- 00:03:31.768 --> 00:03:35.138
- I remember taking a friend to hear
- 00:03:35.138 --> 00:03:36.572
- Billy graham preach in scotland once.
- 00:03:36.572 --> 00:03:38.841
- I had been praying for this friend for a while,
- 00:03:38.841 --> 00:03:41.277
- And i remember that night being so personally impacted by mr.
- 00:03:41.277 --> 00:03:44.881
- Graham's message.
- 00:03:44.881 --> 00:03:46.349
- My friend, on the other hand, was completely unmoved.
- 00:03:46.349 --> 00:03:50.420
- Nothing seemed to touch her at all.
- 00:03:50.420 --> 00:03:52.455
- It seems clear to me that this parable
- 00:03:53.256 --> 00:03:55.158
- Is not about the seed or even the sower.
- 00:03:55.158 --> 00:03:59.095
- It's about the ground that the seed falls on.
- 00:03:59.095 --> 00:04:02.432
- The seed clearly has the power to grow,
- 00:04:02.432 --> 00:04:05.168
- But it all depends on the condition of the soil.
- 00:04:05.168 --> 00:04:08.504
- Have you been praying
- 00:04:09.005 --> 00:04:10.206
- For a friend or a loved one or a child for a long time?
- 00:04:10.206 --> 00:04:13.776
- When i read this parable impacts how i pray for people.
- 00:04:13.776 --> 00:04:17.647
- I begin to pray for a tender heart.
- 00:04:17.647 --> 00:04:20.917
- Many people have had their hearts hardened by life,
- 00:04:20.917 --> 00:04:24.354
- And when bitterness
- 00:04:24.354 --> 00:04:25.488
- Or unforgiveness is allowed to fester in the heart,
- 00:04:25.488 --> 00:04:28.558
- To heart becomes hardened to the goodness of god.
- 00:04:28.558 --> 00:04:31.961
- One of the things
- 00:04:31.961 --> 00:04:33.229
- That many people struggle with is the concept of a good god.
- 00:04:33.229 --> 00:04:36.632
- Yet a hard life
- 00:04:36.632 --> 00:04:38.301
- Is a daily prayer of mine to keep my heart tender.
- 00:04:38.301 --> 00:04:42.472
- It's clear in this parable that the seed is the word of god.
- 00:04:42.472 --> 00:04:46.576
- Let's keep our hearts tender and open,
- 00:04:46.576 --> 00:04:49.979
- Ready to receive god's word.
- 00:04:49.979 --> 00:04:53.783
- Let's pray.
- 00:04:54.117 --> 00:04:57.053
- Lord, i want to thank you
- 00:04:57.053 --> 00:04:58.755
- That you're such a faithful sword.
- 00:04:58.755 --> 00:05:02.091
- You sow seed into our lives.
- 00:05:02.091 --> 00:05:04.827
- But lord, you look for a receptive heart.
- 00:05:04.827 --> 00:05:08.030
- So that's what i pray for today, lord.
- 00:05:08.030 --> 00:05:09.966
- Would you keep our hearts tender toward you?
- 00:05:09.966 --> 00:05:13.136
- I'm praying for those in particular
- 00:05:13.936 --> 00:05:15.538
- Who are going through something really hard right now,
- 00:05:15.538 --> 00:05:18.007
- And the temptation is just to close the door
- 00:05:18.007 --> 00:05:20.710
- To harden their hearts.
- 00:05:20.710 --> 00:05:22.211
- Holy spirit, will you help us?
- 00:05:22.211 --> 00:05:24.247
- We help us keep a tender heart
- 00:05:24.247 --> 00:05:26.816
- So that the seed can fall on good ground.
- 00:05:26.816 --> 00:05:29.685
- In jesus name. amen.
- 00:05:29.685 --> 00:05:29.685
