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: When Comparison Steals Your Joy | 5 Minutes with Jesus | January 26, 2026
- We can see comparison as a thief of joy,
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- Or we can see that because of jesus
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- And because he's given
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- Every one of us a lane to run, and we can bless those around
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- Us, trusting that god, god has got our back.
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- Have you ever heard
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- The phrase comparison is the thief of joy?
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- Most people attribute it to president teddy roosevelt.
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- But i've read some people say,
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- No, it was mark twain and others say, no.
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- I think it was c.s. lewis.
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- But no matter who you who said at first,
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- If you google that phrase, it's all over.
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- The price comes up on plaques and pictures and paintings.
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- And i think for good reason.
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- It's human nature to compare ourselves to others
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- And feel as if we come up short.
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- When i was living in london after i graduated from seminary,
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- I was signed as a singer to a british record company.
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- Now, the christian market in the united kingdom is fairly
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- Small, and i also had my own show on bbc television,
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- And so it wasn't very difficult for me to become
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- The number one female christian artist.
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- There was probably only four of us, but,
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- I had a lot more press time and i had a lot more tv coverage.
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- And so it was like, yeah, gosh, you're like number one.
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- Well, then i came to america and discovered i was now
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- Number 5625.
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- Suddenly there was so many people i'll never forget.
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- My very first, it was a thing called,
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- The christian artist seminar, and it was held
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- In colorado, in estes park.
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- And it was
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- Basically where for five nights, all the different contemporary
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- Christian artists would come
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- And everyone was given like 20 minutes,
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- And you all did your little slot.
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- And i remember sitting there that very first night
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- And listening to these phenomenal artists,
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- All sorts of different artists, you know, gospel
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- Artists, blues artists,
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- People like amy grant, sandy, patti,
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- All those people were there and thinking, oh my gosh,
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- Maybe i shouldn't be doing this after all.
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- But, you know,
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- One of the things that god has taught me is
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- When you start to compare yourself to somebody else,
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- You've kind of lost god's vision for your own life, you know?
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- And we do it in all sorts of ways.
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- And social media has made it so much easier to compare
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- What we're doing,
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- Where we're going, who's going with us to others.
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- That's hard enough to deal with.
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- But when you add the additional pressure
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- Of thinking that impacts
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- How god sees us, it's a very dangerous thing.
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- In philippians chapter four, paul
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- Writes about what contentment is.
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- He says, i've learned how to be content with whatever i have.
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- I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.
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- I've learned the secret
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- Of living in every situation, whether it's with a full stomach
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- Or empty, with plenty or little for
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- I can do everything to christ who gives me strength.
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- I love that scripture.
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- I can do everything through christ who gives me strength.
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- I remember talking to rabbi jason sobel
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- And he said, when you look at the original language,
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- You can almost interpret that as i can do every season
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- Through christ who gives me strength.
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- I remember
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- When i was invited to join something called women of faith.
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- It was a,
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- An organization putting on conferences for women.
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- It was fairly new, and i had never been a speaker before.
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- The thought of speaking to women was terrifying to me.
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- But but i was invited to be part of it.
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- And i felt the lord say, yes,
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- But i'll never forget the very first night i was
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- Maybe the third speaker,
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- But i wanted to be there from the
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- Very first moment of worship so that i could hear everything.
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- And the first speaker was hilarious.
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- I mean, she was just a brilliant storyteller and so funny.
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- The second speaker was this profound bible teacher.
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- I mean, it was just i took so many notes.
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- It was incredible.
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- And then there was a break and then i was up next.
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- And i remember going to the restroom
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- And kind of locking myself in
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- And thinking, lord, i can't do this
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- Because i'm not as funny as she is
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- And i'm not as brilliant as she is.
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- And honestly, there was a moment where i felt like
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- Just going home and saying, i can't do this.
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- It's not i'm not enough.
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- But in that moment, i felt as
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- If the lord said something to me that sounded strange.
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- But i've come to understand.
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- I felt the lord say, sheila, run in your own lane.
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- Run in your own lane.
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- I've already got somebody in that lane.
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- And i've got somebody in that lane.
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- But i've you in your own lane.
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- So run in your online.
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- I wonder if that's much of an issue for you.
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- Do you compare what you do to other people?
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- You know, maybe even in your job,
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- You see somebody get a promotion
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- That you think you should have got
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- And you're like, what does that say about me?
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- Or maybe even in your your group of your bible study,
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- That one person always seems to have more to share.
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- And you say, well, what does that say about me?
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- When you try to be a kind of
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- Copy of somebody else, it's always a watered down
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- Version of who god has actually created you to be.
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- If you read,
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- I don't know how long it's been
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- Since you've read romans chapter 12,
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- But if you study romans chapter 12, it talks so clearly
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- About the fact that we all have different gifts.
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- And that was god's idea.
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- It wasn't our idea.
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- God has given us all different things to do,
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- But we need each other.
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- And when we work together, it makes something beautiful.
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- Paul talks about the fact that the hand
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- Can't say to the food, i don't need you.
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- We all need one another.
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- I think it'd be such a
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- Beautiful thing for the church to show us
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- As a message to our world
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- That rather than comparing ourselves to one another,
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- That we are praying for one another.
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- So when you go back to that phrase,
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- Comparison is a thief of joy.
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- What if we changed that and we made it
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- That as we see the giftedness and one another,
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- That becomes a source of prayer and praise.
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- That you see somebody who's doing really well,
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- Maybe doing something you would love to do,
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- And they're doing it.
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- Don't you think it'd be great if you made that a place
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- Where you paused and prayed for god to bless that person,
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- For god to strengthen that person?
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- We can see comparison as a thief of joy,
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- Or we can see that because of jesus
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- And because he's given every one of us a lane to run,
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- And we can bless those around us, trusting that god,
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- God has got our back.
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- Let me pray for you.
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- Father, i want to thank you that you have a perfect plan
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- For every single one of us.
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- Lord, so often we look at the gifts
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- You've given to somebody else,
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- And to us they seem to be better.
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- But all you ask us to do is be faithful
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- With what you've given us.
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- So, lord.
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- Well, maybe just take a couple of moments
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- And bring everything that we perceive you've given us before.
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- You ask us, lord, how you would have us used this year.
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- Lord jesus, we want to run the race
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- That you have set for us,
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- And we want to do it with all our hearts.
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- Looking to jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
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- Who for the joy set before him kept running.
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- And we ask it in jesus precious, powerful, wonderful name.
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- Amen.
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