By Mallory Mattingly
Grammy-nominated artist Tauren Wells believes a life focused on joy can make all the difference.
“I asked my wife not too long ago, ‘Who is the most joyful person you know?’ She was like, ‘I think you’re the most joyful person that I know.’ But she said that it’s not really because of my personality or my temperament, it’s more about the perspective,” Wells revealed on the “Jesus Calling” podcast. At some point, you have to choose, ‘Am I gonna live my life based on a feeling or feelings, or am I going to live my life toward a focus?’ And that’s the defining factor for people who live with joy.”
The singer/pastor, who describes his journey to joy as “unintentional,” explained that the things that derail us from joy aren’t necessarily the “devastating things” but rather “the little distractions and the details that cause our focus to shift.”
“I’ve seen that in my own life, even in the good. I think sometimes good things can be the greatest thieves of joy,” Tauren Wells said. “There can become so much pressure around success of always elevating, always trying to find the next good thing, [and it] sometimes leaves our soul in a state of despair, because we’ve been focusing on the wrong things, as opposed to the way that Jesus unlocks joy for us.”
“It’s not through hungering and thirsting for career, promotion, position, affluence, affirmation,” he explained. “It’s actually developing a taste and an appetite for righteousness, for the things of God, for the ways of God, which are usually slow, uncomfortable, and difficult at times to wrap our minds and our hearts around.”
We find joy through Jesus’ countercultural message in Matthew 5:4: “Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
“We hear these things as platitudes, perhaps in religious circles, but we never pull them into the reality of our lives,” Wells explained.
“Sometimes I have a really hard time differentiating doing things for God and doing things with God,” the musician said. “And I think that’s when our heart can be thrown upside down and all we ever feel is anxiety, fear, doubt, and despair, because we flip the beauty of the reality that we get to do life with God, and there is a relentless joy that flows from being intentionally aware of His presence.”
Tauren Wells dives deeper into joy in his new book,
Related: Tauren Wells Explores Depth of God’s Love in ‘Crazy About You’
“It’s time to take your joy back! Maybe you’re wondering why life has to be so confusing. Maybe you’re tired of feeling anxious. Maybe you’re just blah lately. Bible teacher, songwriter, and one of Christian music’s most contagiously joyful voices, Pastor Tauren Wells has a powerful reminder for you: Jesus’ first message was about how to be truly happy. Think about it: How important to the heart of God must your joy be if Jesus uses the word ‘happy’ eight times in his first recorded sermon on planet Earth (aka: the Beatitudes)?” a synopsis of the book reads.
Like Wells, we can unintentionally find joy when we shift our focus from the wrong things to doing life with God.
Read Next: Tauren Wells Shares Secret to Abounding Joy: ‘Redemption for Your Life’
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