There was a season in my life where I felt like I owed everybody a reason.

Why I believed what I believed. Why I led the way I led. Why I was not more flexible, more open, more willing to meet people in the middle on things God already settled.

I was exhausted before noon most days.

The problem was not the questions. Questions are fine. The problem was who I was answering to. I had handed people authority over my convictions that they never earned and never deserved. And every time I explained myself I was quietly telling them that their approval was required before I could move.

It is not.

There is a version of a man that the world celebrates right now. Agreeable. Adaptable. Never too sure about anything. Always leaving room for the possibility that he might be wrong so nobody feels threatened by his certainty.

That man is not leading anything.

Certainty is not arrogance. Knowing what you believe and why you believe it is not closed-mindedness. It is the foundation every good decision gets made from. A man who cannot stand on something will drift toward everything.

I stopped explaining myself the day I realized that the people demanding explanations were not looking for understanding. They were looking for leverage.

Know what you believe. Stand there. Let the room adjust.

 

 

Stephon Rudd

 

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