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.
Closed captions
Show Timecode
| Sheila Walsh: Looking Back with Grace | 5 Minutes with Jesus | December 30, 2025
- I don't know what the last year has been like for you,
- 00:00:01.016 --> 00:00:03.685
- But why don't you take a moment to reflect?
- 00:00:03.685 --> 00:00:05.854
- What do you remember?
- 00:00:05.854 --> 00:00:07.556
- Do you remember all the places
- 00:00:07.556 --> 00:00:08.790
- Where you feel as if you failed to?
- 00:00:08.790 --> 00:00:10.826
- Or do you remember the way
- 00:00:10.826 --> 00:00:11.927
- That god stepped in every single time and met you?
- 00:00:11.927 --> 00:00:15.564
- We can determine that this year.
- 00:00:16.198 --> 00:00:17.766
- We'll get it right.
- 00:00:17.766 --> 00:00:18.834
- What if what we failed in last year
- 00:00:18.834 --> 00:00:20.302
- Will be different this year?
- 00:00:20.302 --> 00:00:21.837
- But when we do that, i think honestly, i think we missed
- 00:00:21.837 --> 00:00:24.673
- The whole point of what it means to be a child of god.
- 00:00:24.673 --> 00:00:28.677
- God loves you not because of what you get right,
- 00:00:28.677 --> 00:00:32.747
- But because you've placed your trust
- 00:00:32.747 --> 00:00:34.149
- In jesus who makes you right.
- 00:00:34.149 --> 00:00:40.155
- Moving into a new year
- 00:00:40.655 --> 00:00:41.723
- Is exciting and daunting at the same time.
- 00:00:41.723 --> 00:00:45.260
- It's exciting because it's like.
- 00:00:45.260 --> 00:00:46.528
- It's like a fresh start,
- 00:00:46.528 --> 00:00:47.629
- Clean sheet, a chance to do better than we did before.
- 00:00:47.629 --> 00:00:52.000
- But it's also daunting because we're reminded of things
- 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.870
- We committed to the previous year
- 00:00:54.870 --> 00:00:56.471
- That maybe didn't turn out quite so well.
- 00:00:56.471 --> 00:00:59.574
- I have honestly given up on making new year resolutions.
- 00:00:59.574 --> 00:01:03.145
- It almost,
- 00:01:03.145 --> 00:01:04.379
- Almost feels to me if this is if they set you up to fail.
- 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.615
- You this year, i'll lose 20 pounds.
- 00:01:06.615 --> 00:01:09.117
- This year i'll not only join a gym,
- 00:01:09.117 --> 00:01:10.919
- But i'll actually also go.
- 00:01:10.919 --> 00:01:13.288
- Well, when i'm trying to set my mind
- 00:01:13.288 --> 00:01:15.190
- For a new year, i find a lot of help.
- 00:01:15.190 --> 00:01:17.058
- In paul's letter to the philippians and chapter
- 00:01:17.058 --> 00:01:19.861
- Three, he begins by talking about his credentials as a jew.
- 00:01:19.861 --> 00:01:23.999
- You know, if being born into the right
- 00:01:23.999 --> 00:01:25.634
- Family, studying at the right school was all that was needed
- 00:01:25.634 --> 00:01:28.737
- To please god, and paul was in a great place.
- 00:01:28.737 --> 00:01:31.840
- If doing the right thing was all that was
- 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:34.576
- Needed as a believer, he was overqualified.
- 00:01:34.576 --> 00:01:37.779
- Paul reminded the church in philippi that he was a pure
- 00:01:37.779 --> 00:01:40.849
- Blooded citizen of israel, a real hebrew.
- 00:01:40.849 --> 00:01:43.885
- If there ever was one.
- 00:01:43.885 --> 00:01:45.554
- He goes on to say that he obeyed the law without fault.
- 00:01:45.554 --> 00:01:49.291
- Yet he now considers everything
- 00:01:49.291 --> 00:01:51.960
- That he once thought made him worthy as worthless,
- 00:01:51.960 --> 00:01:54.963
- Simply because of what christ jesus has done.
- 00:01:54.963 --> 00:01:58.700
- What he once thought mattered more than anything else
- 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:01.303
- He now rejects.
- 00:02:01.303 --> 00:02:02.737
- Paul's one goal is clear.
- 00:02:02.737 --> 00:02:04.706
- He wants to become more like jesus.
- 00:02:05.440 --> 00:02:08.043
- In philippians chapter three, verses 12 to 14, paul writes,
- 00:02:08.043 --> 00:02:11.813
- I don't mean to say that i have already achieved these things,
- 00:02:11.813 --> 00:02:15.550
- Or that i have already reached perfection,
- 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:17.919
- But i press on to possess that perfection
- 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:20.689
- For which christ jesus first possessed me.
- 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:23.758
- No. dear brothers and sisters, i have not achieved it.
- 00:02:23.758 --> 00:02:27.429
- But i focus on this one thing forgetting the past
- 00:02:27.429 --> 00:02:31.866
- And looking forward to what lies ahead.
- 00:02:31.866 --> 00:02:34.002
- I press on to reach the end of the race and receive
- 00:02:34.002 --> 00:02:38.106
- The heavenly prize for which god to christ jesus is calling us.
- 00:02:38.106 --> 00:02:43.011
- You know, for paul.
- 00:02:43.478 --> 00:02:44.846
- Forgetting the past was a powerful yet
- 00:02:44.846 --> 00:02:47.749
- Painful choice when you remember that he spent so much time
- 00:02:47.749 --> 00:02:51.519
- Persecuting the early christians
- 00:02:51.519 --> 00:02:53.755
- Because he believed them to be a cult.
- 00:02:53.755 --> 00:02:56.057
- You might remember that he was there
- 00:02:56.057 --> 00:02:58.126
- When stephen was stoned to death.
- 00:02:58.126 --> 00:03:00.795
- Paul stood and watched as this godly young man was murdered.
- 00:03:00.795 --> 00:03:05.467
- Well, after paul's conversion,
- 00:03:06.101 --> 00:03:07.769
- I can only imagine how hard it was to remember those things.
- 00:03:07.769 --> 00:03:11.339
- But to be able to move forward in his passionate commitment
- 00:03:11.339 --> 00:03:14.676
- To become more like jesus.
- 00:03:14.676 --> 00:03:16.244
- He chose to forget those things, to leave them in the past.
- 00:03:16.244 --> 00:03:20.982
- Paul understood the power of christ's forgiveness
- 00:03:22.017 --> 00:03:25.020
- That washed us clean
- 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:26.521
- And gives us a new beginning every single day.
- 00:03:26.521 --> 00:03:30.358
- I don't know what the last year has been like for you,
- 00:03:30.358 --> 00:03:33.028
- But why don't you take a moment to reflect?
- 00:03:33.028 --> 00:03:35.196
- What do you remember?
- 00:03:35.196 --> 00:03:36.898
- Do you remember all the places
- 00:03:36.898 --> 00:03:38.133
- Where you feel as if you failed to?
- 00:03:38.133 --> 00:03:40.168
- Or do you remember the way
- 00:03:40.168 --> 00:03:41.269
- That god stepped in every single time and met you?
- 00:03:41.269 --> 00:03:44.906
- We can determine that this year.
- 00:03:45.540 --> 00:03:47.108
- We'll get it right.
- 00:03:47.108 --> 00:03:48.176
- What if what we failed in last year
- 00:03:48.176 --> 00:03:49.644
- Will be different this year?
- 00:03:49.644 --> 00:03:51.179
- But when we do that, i think honestly, i think we missed
- 00:03:51.179 --> 00:03:54.015
- The whole point of what it means to be a child of god.
- 00:03:54.015 --> 00:03:58.019
- God loves you not because of what you get right,
- 00:03:58.019 --> 00:04:01.523
- But because you've placed
- 00:04:02.090 --> 00:04:03.058
- Your trust in jesus who makes you right.
- 00:04:03.058 --> 00:04:06.194
- Grace is a beautiful gift that's only found in christianity.
- 00:04:06.194 --> 00:04:10.699
- I remember reading a story of a time when c.s.
- 00:04:10.699 --> 00:04:12.834
- Lewis came in
- 00:04:12.834 --> 00:04:14.135
- Late to a discussion that was already taking place,
- 00:04:14.135 --> 00:04:16.938
- And other religious scholars were trying to determine
- 00:04:16.938 --> 00:04:19.607
- What was the one thing
- 00:04:19.607 --> 00:04:21.376
- That made christianity different from every other religion.
- 00:04:21.376 --> 00:04:25.046
- C.s. lewis said, well, that's easy.
- 00:04:25.046 --> 00:04:27.048
- It's grace.
- 00:04:27.048 --> 00:04:28.683
- Grace is unmerited favor.
- 00:04:28.683 --> 00:04:31.353
- It's love stooping down to pick us up.
- 00:04:31.353 --> 00:04:34.122
- As you look back at the last year.
- 00:04:34.122 --> 00:04:36.124
- Thank god for the ways he's carried you.
- 00:04:36.124 --> 00:04:38.426
- And let go
- 00:04:38.426 --> 00:04:39.594
- Of the confessed places where you feel as if you failed.
- 00:04:39.594 --> 00:04:42.130
- We're not judged on the last thing we did.
- 00:04:42.130 --> 00:04:45.467
- We are judged on the last thing.
- 00:04:45.467 --> 00:04:46.968
- Jesus did.
- 00:04:46.968 --> 00:04:48.203
- And he said, it is finished.
- 00:04:48.203 --> 00:04:50.739
- Let's pray.
- 00:04:50.739 --> 00:04:52.240
- Father, i want to thank you that as we step into a new year,
- 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:55.510
- We can do it without fear.
- 00:04:55.510 --> 00:04:57.278
- We can do it with faith because you are not judging us
- 00:04:57.278 --> 00:05:00.348
- On the things we get right and the things we get wrong,
- 00:05:00.348 --> 00:05:03.518
- But rather that every new day your mercies are new.
- 00:05:03.518 --> 00:05:07.155
- And so we thank you for that.
- 00:05:07.155 --> 00:05:08.590
- We commit this year to you, jesus,
- 00:05:08.590 --> 00:05:10.558
- And it is our heart's desire, like paul,
- 00:05:10.558 --> 00:05:12.627
- To become more like you.
- 00:05:12.627 --> 00:05:14.429
- In jesus name. amen.
- 00:05:14.429 --> 00:05:14.429
