“What an essential element of art is risk. If you don’t take risks, how are you going to make something really beautiful that hasn’t been seen before? ... I always had a good philosophy about risks. The only risk is to waste your life, so that when you die, you say, ‘Oh, I wish I had done this.’”
This powerful comment came from none other than filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who has distinguished himself in his profession through great risk taking.
What I find interesting in my spiritual journey is that there are very few, and I mean very few, Christians who are willing to take risks in terms of expressing their faith, whether in word or in deed. Taking risks means that you are willing to face rejection or the pain of failure rather than the safety and much desired status quo that marks so many of our lives.
I believe Mr. Coppola’s final comment “oh, I wish I had done this” will be something many of us would say when we stand with the Lord and play the re-wind tape of our lives. The people we could have touched, the communities we could have affected, the difference we could have made with our lives…
The difference between “taking risks” and “acting on faith” is simply the genesis of the prompting. An act of faith is something that’s prompted by a nudge of God through the Spirit which very often means that you have to take a risk in order to see it happen.
I’m currently working through a few of these on my own and perhaps in my next post will talk about one that I’ve found particularly challenging.
In the mean time, I pray you have the courage to reexamine where you might make a difference by taking a risk.
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
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