I’m in the habit of reading Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being like it’s a daily devotional. I’m drawn to the words in that book and I don’t usually know why.

Today, on page 194, he said,

If you’ve truly created an innovative work, it’s likely to alienate as many people as it attracts. The best art divides the audience. If everyone likes it, you probably haven’t gone far enough. In the end, you are the only one who has to love it. This work is for you.

That’s true, but why?

Why does it alienate some and attract others?

Why do I have to be the only one in the end who loves it?

How is the work for me if I created it for others to see?

And where does Jesus fit in all this?

Yeah, What About Jesus?

Jesus told parables. He'd speak to thousands, but afterward, only the twelve would come asking what He meant. The stories divided the crowd. Some left satisfied with a nice moral tale. Others left hungry, knowing there was more.

Maybe innovative art alienates because it refuses to stay in familiar territory. It asks people to follow it somewhere new, and not everyone wants to go.

I think about "eat my flesh and drink my blood" (Jn 6:53). Jesus could have said it safer. Clearer. Less shocking. But He didn't. John tells us many disciples turned back that day. The art of His words divided the audience.

I Have to Be the Only One Who Loves It

Maybe I have to be the only one who loves it because that's the only way to know if it's true. If I'm writing for applause, I'll sand down the edges. I'll stop before I've gone far enough.

But if it's for me—or rather, for who God made me to be—or rather, for God—then I'll write the thing that churns inside me, whether it divides or not.

Boy, if I don’t do that, then I have to be someone else when I write. I’d get tired of that. I’d hate that, actually, even more than being disliked by all those people I alienated.

And maybe that's where Jesus fits. He did only what He saw the Father doing. His work was "for Him" first, which made it truly for us. Even when we walked away. Even when we didn't understand. Even when it divided us.

The best art divides the audience.

Sometimes I wonder if that's because the best art tells the truth and some people just don’t want to know anything they don’t already know.

For others, it’s a matter of taste. They just have a different taste and who knows why. They would be especially exhausting to please. Best to write what you want to write, how you want to write it, and find the audience it was meant for.

I’m not saying don’t have editors or polish your writing (although I’m not going to do that today). I’m saying don’t change your core voice and the truth God’s called you to share. We need it.

Jeff

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