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: Healing Through Compassion | 5 Minutes with Jesus | January 27, 2026
- Get rid
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- Of all bitterness, rage,
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- Anger, harsh words, and slander,
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- As well as all types of evil behavior.
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- Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one
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- Another, just as god to christ
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- Has forgiven you.
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- Quick question.
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- How do we choose compassion over criticism?
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- Do you ever find yourself looking at a situation
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- And instead of having compassion on it?
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- You first observation is a critical one,
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- And it can be very difficult to overcome that.
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- But the lord taught me one of the most painful lessons ever,
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- And i've never forgotten the lesson.
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- It was back in the days when i was traveling.
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- I don't know if you know
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- That i used to be contemporary christian artists.
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- That's how i first came to america,
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- And i was traveling with my band from britain.
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- We were doing a 60,
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- 60 city tour, and we were
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- We had two days off in a place called fargo, north dakota.
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- If you've ever been there,
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- But we just had two down days there,
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- And while we were there, i got a phone call from a local
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- Youth pastor and he said, hey, i heard from somebody that you
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- And your band are in fargo with a couple of days off.
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- He said,
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- Is there any way that you could come and do a concert
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- For our young people?
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- There's not a bunch of them that's maybe just like 40 or 45,
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- But nobody ever comes to fargo, so it would be so great.
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- So i said, well, let me ask the band.
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- So i asked them like, guys, do you want to do this?
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- And they're like, sure, why? why wouldn't we do it?
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- And so i'll never forget.
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- We, we set up all our equipment and almost everyone who came,
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- And there was probably about 40
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- Sat in the very back row or the second back row,
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- Which i thought was kind of funny,
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- But the only person who sat right in the front row
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- Was a man in a bright yellow shirt.
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- And for some reason, i mean, i was grateful
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- That he was there at somebody to look at.
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- But the strange thing, after every song,
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- People in the back would clap a little bit.
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- And he didn't.
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- He just sat there and looked at me and didn't clap at all.
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- And so reason shows you a lot about me.
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- For some reason
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- It started to annoy me after a while because i thought,
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- Listen, dude, if you're going to come,
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- If you're going to sit right in the front row,
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- Could you not even just pretend to like it?
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- Couldn't you just clap a wee bit?
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- So i thought, you know what i'm going to do?
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- I'm just going to keep staring at him until he claps.
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- And at the end of every song, i would kind of stare at him
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- And he would just smile and do nothing.
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- And then the concert was over and i went back to the pastor's
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- Study, where i had left all my things,
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- And there was this
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- Kind of bang on the door, and i opened the door,
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- And it was this gentleman in the yellow shirt
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- Who had no arms.
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- He had been born with a birth defect where he had no arms.
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- And he said,
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- Can i just tell you how much this meant to me tonight?
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- He said, since your very first thing, i've followed your music.
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- I know the lyrics to all your songs.
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- And when i heard that you were coming to our church.
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- I just got down on my knees and i thank the lord.
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- You can imagine
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- How i felt that night when i got back to my hotel room.
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- I got down on my knees and i was like, lord, please forgive me.
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- A how selfish of me
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- To care about whether somebody is clapping or not.
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- I mean, talk of it totally missing the point of the gospel,
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- But i had completely mis understood
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- What was going on in somebodies life.
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- I made a commitment that night before the lord that
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- Any platform i was ever on, no matter how the response
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- From anyone, i would not imagine that i knew why,
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- But rather that i would lift that person up.
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- And i'd love.
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- Paul actually wrote about this in ephesians chapter four,
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- Verse 31 and 32.
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- This is what paul wrote.
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- Get rid of all bitterness,
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- Rage, anger, harsh words, and slander,
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- As well as all types of evil behavior.
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- Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one
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- Another, just as god to christ has forgiven you.
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- Wouldn't it be incredible this year
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- If we exchanged criticism for compassion?
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- I understand sometimes people do
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- Things that just drives us nuts.
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- But i believe that's why we have the holy spirit.
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- If you and i were asked to do this journey by ourselves,
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- Then we would be like me on that night in fargo,
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- North dakota, making a very poor job of it.
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- But we're not asked to do this journey by ourselves.
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- We've promised the holy spirit.
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- So the next time you feel that kind of criticism
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- Rising up,
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- And you pray that god will give you
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- A heart of compassion because he's done so much for us
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- And we can extend that grace to those around us.
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- It could be 2026, the year of compassion.
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- Let me pray for you.
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- Father, i want to thank you for your mercy.
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- Gosh, how many times, lord, i've had to call on you for mercy?
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- Times when i have failed you and let you down. and.
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- And i just want to thank you that it's your kindness
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- That leads us to repentance, not your judgment.
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- Thank you for the way
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- That you call us back gently to your side.
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- And, father, i just pray right now for us as your family,
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- That lord,
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- You would teach us, rather than simply leap into criticism,
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- That you would teach us how to show compassion
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- Because you have showered us with compassion in jesus name.
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- Amen.
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