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: Release the Weight of Shame | 5 Minutes with Jesus | February 16, 2026
- Christ always
- 00:00:00.190 --> 00:00:01.558
- Hates the sin that devastates us.
- 00:00:01.558 --> 00:00:04.694
- But he is crazy passionate about the sinner who's broken by it.
- 00:00:04.694 --> 00:00:09.165
- At times, i think we as the church seem to have
- 00:00:10.166 --> 00:00:12.869
- Almost reverse the trend.
- 00:00:12.869 --> 00:00:14.437
- We think if we punish, the sinner we█ll kill the sin
- 00:00:14.437 --> 00:00:18.174
- That never works.
- 00:00:18.608 --> 00:00:19.876
- Christ nailed the sin to the cross.
- 00:00:19.876 --> 00:00:23.113
- It's our mission to love the sinner.
- 00:00:23.113 --> 00:00:26.483
- Back to life.
- 00:00:26.483 --> 00:00:30.954
- I was sitting in the departure
- 00:00:31.588 --> 00:00:32.922
- Lounge waiting for my flight to board
- 00:00:32.922 --> 00:00:35.091
- When that dreaded announcement graced our ears.
- 00:00:35.091 --> 00:00:37.794
- The 3:30 p.m.
- 00:00:37.794 --> 00:00:38.928
- Flight to dallas, texas will now depart at 5:40 p.m..
- 00:00:38.928 --> 00:00:42.232
- Thank you for your patience.
- 00:00:42.232 --> 00:00:44.534
- It was her flight's third delay and people's
- 00:00:44.534 --> 00:00:46.836
- Tempers were wearing thin.
- 00:00:46.836 --> 00:00:48.605
- I picked up my briefcase and returned to the coffee shop
- 00:00:48.605 --> 00:00:51.207
- Where i was becoming a familiar face.
- 00:00:51.207 --> 00:00:53.476
- This time
- 00:00:53.476 --> 00:00:54.677
- I chose a cup of tea and found a quiet table in the corner.
- 00:00:54.677 --> 00:00:57.614
- After settling in to read my book,
- 00:00:57.614 --> 00:00:59.382
- When i became aware of someone standing right in front of me,
- 00:00:59.382 --> 00:01:03.219
- I looked up to see who it was.
- 00:01:03.219 --> 00:01:04.921
- It's a woman about my age.
- 00:01:04.921 --> 00:01:06.556
- Tall, slim, with short blond hair.
- 00:01:06.556 --> 00:01:09.726
- She asked if she could join me and when she sat down,
- 00:01:09.726 --> 00:01:12.562
- I noticed an unusual tattoo on her wrist.
- 00:01:12.562 --> 00:01:15.698
- It was a semicolon.
- 00:01:15.698 --> 00:01:17.867
- I asked her what it meant.
- 00:01:17.867 --> 00:01:20.203
- She looked down at it and rubbed her finger over the black ink.
- 00:01:20.203 --> 00:01:23.640
- She told me it's about choosing to live one more day.
- 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:28.344
- I'm part of a movement as to what the movement was.
- 00:01:28.344 --> 00:01:31.614
- She told me it's called project semicolon,
- 00:01:31.614 --> 00:01:34.317
- And she joined after she heard me
- 00:01:34.317 --> 00:01:36.019
- Speak at a conference hosted by saddleback church.
- 00:01:36.019 --> 00:01:39.856
- I remember that conference so well.
- 00:01:39.856 --> 00:01:42.258
- Kay warren had invited me to be a keynote speaker
- 00:01:42.258 --> 00:01:45.361
- At the first annual the church and mental health symposium.
- 00:01:45.361 --> 00:01:49.632
- The genesis of this event was the devastating suicide
- 00:01:49.632 --> 00:01:53.570
- Of kay and rick's darling son, matthew.
- 00:01:53.570 --> 00:01:57.340
- I remember being really nervous as i flew out to speak,
- 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:01.044
- Because the lineup of speakers was impressive and intimidating.
- 00:02:01.044 --> 00:02:05.548
- United states surgeon general, the former
- 00:02:05.548 --> 00:02:08.351
- Head of the american association of psychiatrists,
- 00:02:08.351 --> 00:02:11.588
- Former congressman patrick kennedy, was a keynote.
- 00:02:11.588 --> 00:02:14.490
- And many, many more.
- 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:17.160
- Well, i was a speaker on the opening night,
- 00:02:17.160 --> 00:02:19.062
- Which i was grateful for.
- 00:02:19.062 --> 00:02:20.563
- It meant i didn't have to follow anyone.
- 00:02:20.563 --> 00:02:23.600
- I remember
- 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:24.434
- My opening line so well, something
- 00:02:24.434 --> 00:02:28.071
- I could never have said for most of my life.
- 00:02:28.071 --> 00:02:31.574
- I said, good evening.
- 00:02:31.574 --> 00:02:33.776
- My name is sheila walsh
- 00:02:33.776 --> 00:02:36.379
- And i'm profoundly grateful
- 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:38.381
- For the gift of mental illness.
- 00:02:38.381 --> 00:02:40.817
- It means that i can look into the eyes of someone else
- 00:02:40.817 --> 00:02:43.119
- Who is suffering and say, me too.
- 00:02:43.119 --> 00:02:47.657
- Me too.
- 00:02:47.657 --> 00:02:49.659
- Such little words.
- 00:02:49.659 --> 00:02:51.594
- How i would have welcomed hearing them from someone
- 00:02:51.594 --> 00:02:54.530
- When i was in the middle of the darkest battle of my life.
- 00:02:54.530 --> 00:02:58.501
- In those days,
- 00:02:58.501 --> 00:02:59.702
- The church rarely addressed any area of mental illness.
- 00:02:59.702 --> 00:03:03.406
- After she left,
- 00:03:03.406 --> 00:03:04.607
- I thought about that little tattoo on her wrist.
- 00:03:04.607 --> 00:03:07.510
- What was it about that symbol that helped her so much?
- 00:03:07.510 --> 00:03:11.681
- Part of it, i'm sure, is that it reminds her
- 00:03:11.681 --> 00:03:14.183
- To keep fighting through the darkest nights of depression.
- 00:03:14.183 --> 00:03:17.654
- It gives her something to focus on.
- 00:03:17.654 --> 00:03:20.189
- It tells her to hold on.
- 00:03:20.189 --> 00:03:22.492
- It's a tangible declaration to her weary soul
- 00:03:22.492 --> 00:03:26.329
- That her story is not over yet,
- 00:03:26.329 --> 00:03:29.699
- And perhaps on some days she wishes that it were.
- 00:03:29.699 --> 00:03:33.803
- But i think a big part of it,
- 00:03:33.803 --> 00:03:35.238
- Too, is that it lets her know she's not alone.
- 00:03:35.238 --> 00:03:39.142
- She's found a community of people
- 00:03:39.142 --> 00:03:40.843
- Who understand her struggle,
- 00:03:40.843 --> 00:03:43.246
- And they don't understand because they're experts.
- 00:03:43.246 --> 00:03:46.616
- They understand because they suffer too.
- 00:03:46.616 --> 00:03:49.686
- When you're able to see what's true about yourself to someone
- 00:03:49.686 --> 00:03:53.423
- And they understand and accept you, you have deprived
- 00:03:53.423 --> 00:03:57.660
- Shame of the oxygen it needs to survive.
- 00:03:57.660 --> 00:04:01.097
- Shame thrives in hiding and solitude.
- 00:04:01.097 --> 00:04:04.867
- A cripple says,
- 00:04:04.867 --> 00:04:07.036
- And the truth is, shame is a liar.
- 00:04:07.036 --> 00:04:09.405
- It whispers you're all alone.
- 00:04:09.405 --> 00:04:12.542
- You'll never be enough.
- 00:04:12.542 --> 00:04:14.277
- You'll never change.
- 00:04:14.277 --> 00:04:16.446
- We think that the one place where shame couldn't
- 00:04:16.446 --> 00:04:18.481
- Survive would be the church.
- 00:04:18.481 --> 00:04:20.783
- Too often it's the crucible where shame is born.
- 00:04:20.783 --> 00:04:24.387
- And that's so sad.
- 00:04:24.387 --> 00:04:26.322
- Just think of all the people who lived shame filled lives.
- 00:04:26.322 --> 00:04:29.425
- Until they looked into the eyes of jesus.
- 00:04:29.425 --> 00:04:32.462
- And shame was burned to ashes by his fiery love.
- 00:04:32.462 --> 00:04:36.933
- There were so many women
- 00:04:36.933 --> 00:04:38.134
- Who were shamed by their culture but restored by his love.
- 00:04:38.134 --> 00:04:42.672
- The prostitute, the woman at the well,
- 00:04:42.672 --> 00:04:45.241
- The woman caught in an adulterous relationship
- 00:04:45.241 --> 00:04:47.410
- And thrown down onto the ground at jesus feet.
- 00:04:47.410 --> 00:04:50.880
- He looked at them in love and gave them a new beginning.
- 00:04:50.880 --> 00:04:56.853
- That hasn't changed.
- 00:04:56.853 --> 00:04:58.521
- Christ always hates the sin that devastates us.
- 00:04:58.521 --> 00:05:03.025
- But he is crazy passionate about the sinner who's broken by it.
- 00:05:03.025 --> 00:05:08.498
- At times, i think we as the church seem to have
- 00:05:08.498 --> 00:05:11.200
- Almost reverse the trend.
- 00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:12.769
- We think if we punish, the sinner will kill the sin
- 00:05:12.769 --> 00:05:16.939
- That never works.
- 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:18.207
- Christ nailed the sin to the cross.
- 00:05:18.207 --> 00:05:21.444
- It's our mission to love the sinner.
- 00:05:21.444 --> 00:05:24.814
- Back to life.
- 00:05:24.814 --> 00:05:26.682
- You know, christianity isn't a country club
- 00:05:26.682 --> 00:05:29.252
- Where we all have to dress and look alike to get in
- 00:05:29.252 --> 00:05:32.789
- The cross of christ as actually the only place
- 00:05:32.789 --> 00:05:35.792
- Where presidents and prisoners, housewives and college students
- 00:05:35.792 --> 00:05:40.897
- Kneel side by side, knowing that the only reason we are welcome
- 00:05:40.897 --> 00:05:45.968
- There is because of the one dying in our place.
- 00:05:45.968 --> 00:05:50.540
- Shame was crucified over 2000 years ago,
- 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:55.878
- And hebrews chapter 12 says this.
- 00:05:55.878 --> 00:05:58.948
- Let us run with endurance the race god has set before us.
- 00:05:58.948 --> 00:06:03.786
- We do this by keeping our eyes on jesus,
- 00:06:03.786 --> 00:06:06.689
- The champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
- 00:06:06.689 --> 00:06:11.194
- Because of the joy awaiting him.
- 00:06:11.194 --> 00:06:14.163
- He endured the cross, disregarding its shame,
- 00:06:14.163 --> 00:06:18.234
- And now he's seated in the place of honor beside god's throne.
- 00:06:18.234 --> 00:06:25.141
- I don't know
- 00:06:25.141 --> 00:06:26.509
- If shame is something that you deal with.
- 00:06:26.509 --> 00:06:29.212
- I read
- 00:06:29.212 --> 00:06:30.480
- There's a great book by lewis meads called shame and grace,
- 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.216
- And there's a line in there that stuck with me, he said.
- 00:06:33.216 --> 00:06:35.852
- I dragged around inside of me a sense of not good enough ness.
- 00:06:35.852 --> 00:06:41.724
- Gosh, i think so many of us can relate
- 00:06:41.724 --> 00:06:43.693
- To that feeling like we're just not enough.
- 00:06:43.693 --> 00:06:46.729
- I remember reading an interview
- 00:06:46.729 --> 00:06:49.398
- Eight years ago in a magazine, and it was
- 00:06:49.398 --> 00:06:51.767
- They were actually interviewing oprah winfrey
- 00:06:51.767 --> 00:06:53.603
- At kind of the peak of her career and daytime television
- 00:06:53.603 --> 00:06:57.507
- And asked her,
- 00:06:57.507 --> 00:06:58.641
- You know, what was something she still struggled with?
- 00:06:58.641 --> 00:07:01.677
- And she said, i feel like i'll never be enough.
- 00:07:01.677 --> 00:07:04.714
- The only place where we discovered
- 00:07:04.714 --> 00:07:07.683
- That, you know, part of the truth is we won't be enough.
- 00:07:07.683 --> 00:07:11.888
- But the other greater part of that truth is we don't have to.
- 00:07:11.888 --> 00:07:15.525
- Because jesus makes us more than enough.
- 00:07:15.525 --> 00:07:19.228
- If you've been dealing with shame,
- 00:07:19.228 --> 00:07:21.163
- I just invite you to bring it to the foot of the cross
- 00:07:21.163 --> 00:07:24.066
- Because jesus sits there.
- 00:07:24.066 --> 00:07:26.035
- I'll take your shame on me so that you can be free.
- 00:07:26.035 --> 00:07:31.240
- Let me pray for you.
- 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:33.876
- Lord will never understand while we're still on this earth.
- 00:07:33.876 --> 00:07:37.480
- What it meant for you to take our shame on yourself.
- 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:41.350
- I have no idea what that cost you.
- 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:44.120
- I mean, i read your story, and it's heartbreaking,
- 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:48.457
- But i don't understand the weight of what you bore.
- 00:07:48.457 --> 00:07:51.994
- But you were willing to do that because you love us,
- 00:07:51.994 --> 00:07:55.698
- And you wanted us to have a way back to our father.
- 00:07:55.698 --> 00:07:58.734
- So i pray right now, lord, for anyone
- 00:07:58.734 --> 00:08:01.270
- Who is carrying this overcoat of shame
- 00:08:01.270 --> 00:08:05.207
- That you would give us grace by your spirit,
- 00:08:05.207 --> 00:08:08.277
- To give that to you, and to stand up
- 00:08:08.277 --> 00:08:11.080
- Knowing that we are seen, that we are known,
- 00:08:11.080 --> 00:08:14.917
- And that we are loved because of jesus, in whose name we pray.
- 00:08:14.917 --> 00:08:20.823
- Amen.
- 00:08:21.057 --> 00:08:21.057
