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: Loving The Hard To Love | 5 Minutes With Jesus | May 6, 2026
- No one ever told me that i had to love my son.
- 00:00:00.023 --> 00:00:02.292
- So most natural thing in the world.
- 00:00:02.292 --> 00:00:04.727
- Loving our spouses kind of times require christ's help.
- 00:00:04.727 --> 00:00:08.098
- But generally, you know it comes from our heart.
- 00:00:08.098 --> 00:00:11.167
- It's easy to love your very best friends, those you trust
- 00:00:11.167 --> 00:00:14.571
- And you know that they have your back.
- 00:00:14.571 --> 00:00:17.073
- But where you and i need christ help is with agape
- 00:00:17.073 --> 00:00:20.176
- Love to love those who are hard to love.
- 00:00:20.176 --> 00:00:23.780
- It's only possible through christ
- 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:25.782
- And the infilling of the holy spirit.
- 00:00:25.782 --> 00:00:32.422
- A couple of years ago, i had the privilege
- 00:00:33.323 --> 00:00:34.991
- Of traveling to israel for the very first time.
- 00:00:34.991 --> 00:00:37.927
- We filmed it for tbn
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- And a ten part series of walking in the footsteps of jesus.
- 00:00:39.596 --> 00:00:43.466
- I loved every moment that trip,
- 00:00:43.466 --> 00:00:46.202
- Whether it was
- 00:00:46.202 --> 00:00:47.370
- Standing on the mount of olives for christ will return
- 00:00:47.370 --> 00:00:50.707
- Or walking up the via dolorosa, the path he took to the cross.
- 00:00:50.707 --> 00:00:54.811
- Every single moment was rich with meaning.
- 00:00:54.811 --> 00:00:58.681
- One of my very favorite days was sitting on the very hillside
- 00:00:58.681 --> 00:01:01.584
- Where jesus delivered the sermon on the mount.
- 00:01:01.584 --> 00:01:04.687
- We did that beginning in matthew chapter five.
- 00:01:04.687 --> 00:01:07.290
- Jesus begins with the beatitudes,
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- But then moves on to some very specific teaching
- 00:01:09.659 --> 00:01:13.029
- And what it looks like to be his people in a fallen world.
- 00:01:13.029 --> 00:01:16.900
- But then in matthew chapter five, verse 43, jesus says,
- 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:21.804
- You have heard the law that says, love your neighbor
- 00:01:21.804 --> 00:01:24.674
- And hate your enemy.
- 00:01:24.674 --> 00:01:26.409
- But i say, love your enemies.
- 00:01:26.409 --> 00:01:29.512
- Pray for those who persecute you.
- 00:01:29.512 --> 00:01:32.582
- That's a tough one.
- 00:01:33.049 --> 00:01:34.517
- What did
- 00:01:34.517 --> 00:01:35.685
- Jesus mean when he said that we should love our enemies?
- 00:01:35.685 --> 00:01:38.454
- To pray for those who make our lives unbearable.
- 00:01:38.454 --> 00:01:41.691
- I find it helpful to understand
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- That in the original greek language,
- 00:01:43.960 --> 00:01:46.062
- There are four different words for the word love.
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- Number one, the first is store gay,
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- And this is the kind of love a parent has for their child
- 00:01:52.602 --> 00:01:55.939
- And a child for their mom and dad.
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- It's it's family affection.
- 00:01:57.507 --> 00:02:00.009
- Then there's the word eros.
- 00:02:00.009 --> 00:02:02.078
- Eros is the word associated with sexual love.
- 00:02:02.078 --> 00:02:05.748
- Over time, this word has been placed in the category of lust
- 00:02:05.748 --> 00:02:09.118
- Rather than love, but in its purest form.
- 00:02:09.118 --> 00:02:11.621
- In the original language,
- 00:02:11.621 --> 00:02:13.089
- It's simply refers to the passion of human love.
- 00:02:13.089 --> 00:02:16.426
- The third word is the leo.
- 00:02:16.993 --> 00:02:19.162
- From the word philos, to be a friend to or to be fond of.
- 00:02:19.162 --> 00:02:24.300
- You'd use this word for your very closest friends,
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- For those you love most in the whole world.
- 00:02:27.370 --> 00:02:30.373
- The fourth word is agape,
- 00:02:30.373 --> 00:02:32.909
- And this is the word that christ uses in this passage.
- 00:02:32.909 --> 00:02:36.879
- Now the first three words clearly come from the heart,
- 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:40.316
- But the fourth word, agape, also involves the well.
- 00:02:40.316 --> 00:02:45.488
- This is not a sloppy or sentimental love.
- 00:02:45.488 --> 00:02:48.591
- It is a choice to love as christ loves.
- 00:02:48.591 --> 00:02:52.095
- The thing that's clear to me in this passage
- 00:02:52.996 --> 00:02:55.064
- Is that the kind of love jesus is talking about here
- 00:02:55.064 --> 00:02:58.534
- Is honestly impossible without him.
- 00:02:58.534 --> 00:03:01.504
- No one ever told me that i had to love my son.
- 00:03:01.504 --> 00:03:03.773
- So most natural thing in the world.
- 00:03:03.773 --> 00:03:06.209
- Loving our spouses kind of times require christ's help.
- 00:03:06.209 --> 00:03:09.579
- But generally, you know it comes from our heart.
- 00:03:09.579 --> 00:03:12.649
- It's easy to love your very best friends, those you trust
- 00:03:12.649 --> 00:03:16.052
- And you know that they have your back.
- 00:03:16.052 --> 00:03:18.554
- But where you and i need christ help is with agape
- 00:03:18.554 --> 00:03:21.658
- Love to love those who are hard to love.
- 00:03:21.658 --> 00:03:25.261
- It's only possible through christ
- 00:03:25.261 --> 00:03:27.263
- And the infilling of the holy spirit.
- 00:03:27.263 --> 00:03:30.533
- We're told to not only agape them, but to pray for them.
- 00:03:30.533 --> 00:03:35.071
- That's hard,
- 00:03:35.371 --> 00:03:36.773
- But that's what it means to be a follower of christ.
- 00:03:36.773 --> 00:03:39.575
- We don't allow bitterness or revenge to take over.
- 00:03:39.575 --> 00:03:43.346
- We ask for the holy spirit's help.
- 00:03:43.346 --> 00:03:45.848
- It's an interesting thing to discover
- 00:03:46.683 --> 00:03:48.418
- That it's very hard to hate someone you're praying for,
- 00:03:48.418 --> 00:03:52.655
- Because you begin to see them through christ's eyes.
- 00:03:52.655 --> 00:03:56.192
- I had a colleague some years ago really stabbed me in the back.
- 00:03:56.192 --> 00:04:00.063
- And honestly, it hurt so badly.
- 00:04:00.063 --> 00:04:02.131
- So i tried to do what god's word tells us to do,
- 00:04:02.131 --> 00:04:05.001
- To go to the person and seek reconciliation.
- 00:04:05.001 --> 00:04:08.237
- But they didn't want it.
- 00:04:08.237 --> 00:04:09.572
- They determined to harm me, and there was nothing i could do
- 00:04:09.572 --> 00:04:12.508
- About it.
- 00:04:12.508 --> 00:04:13.710
- Or so i thought.
- 00:04:13.710 --> 00:04:15.111
- As i read this passage from matthew,
- 00:04:15.111 --> 00:04:17.347
- I began to pray for them.
- 00:04:17.347 --> 00:04:20.249
- And honestly, it's one of the hardest things
- 00:04:20.249 --> 00:04:22.352
- I've ever had to do.
- 00:04:22.352 --> 00:04:23.653
- I didn't want to pray for them, but god's word made it clear.
- 00:04:23.653 --> 00:04:26.889
- So i started where i was.
- 00:04:27.457 --> 00:04:30.493
- Sure, it wasn't very inspiring at first,
- 00:04:30.493 --> 00:04:32.929
- But i realized that god was calling for my emotions.
- 00:04:32.929 --> 00:04:36.599
- He was calling for my obedience.
- 00:04:36.599 --> 00:04:39.702
- If you and i want to look like jesus, we have to live
- 00:04:39.702 --> 00:04:42.905
- Like jesus.
- 00:04:42.905 --> 00:04:44.741
- Let's pray.
- 00:04:45.074 --> 00:04:47.310
- Lord, thank you that your word guides
- 00:04:47.310 --> 00:04:49.679
- Us every step along the way.
- 00:04:49.679 --> 00:04:52.148
- I thank you that you include things to help us with.
- 00:04:52.148 --> 00:04:55.151
- Situations are so hard.
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- Lord, i want to
- 00:04:57.286 --> 00:04:58.321
- Thank you for the agape love you have toward us.
- 00:04:58.321 --> 00:05:01.758
- That you see everything that's wrong with us and you love us.
- 00:05:01.758 --> 00:05:05.528
- Teach us to see other people with your eyes in jesus name.
- 00:05:05.528 --> 00:05:10.533
- Amen.
- 00:05:10.767 --> 00:05:10.767
