Why You Should Seek Truth Above Everything

You will not be who God created you to be until you make truth your highest priority

Why are so many people in anguish today? Why do people suddenly seem so checked out? Why do so many feel like their lives are falling apart, or like something essential is missing?

I think it all comes down to this: they either don't want to seek truth or it never occurred to them that truth should be their highest priority.

It’s hard to see this in yourself.

“What do you mean, I care about the truth!”

So, let me ask you this instead: If you're really being honest about the people around you, what do the vast majority really prioritize?

What really governs how they make decisions in their life?

They prioritize feeling right, or making money, or getting status, or avoiding pain. They sacrifice truth for comfort every single time.

This includes people you'd expect to prioritize truth:

• Teachers? Job security and peer approval
• Business leaders? Quarterly earnings
• Elected officials? Getting reelected
• Spiritual leaders? Power and congregation size
• Artists? Entering elite circles
• Journalists? Working at prestigious institutions
• Scientists? Grants and publications

I know this because I've met thousands of people across these fields. And importantly, I have slowly come to better know my own capacity for self-deception. Prioritizing anything but the truth is natural in our fallen state. But just because a tendency is natural, doesn’t mean it serves us. Or honors who God designed us to be.

By truth, I don't just mean factual accuracy—though that is integral.

By truth, I mean the principle of genuinely wanting to see this upside-down, fallen world as it is, not as you wish it were.

By truth, I mean the willingness to face uncomfortable facts about yourself, your relationships, your world, and your Creator; instead of living in comforting delusions. See: The Truth Economy for how prioritizing truth transforms economic participation.

From my experience, it is extremely rare to meet someone who is willing to prioritize truth. To live truth.

Which is all the more why I want to talk about why it is so important for your flourishing to do so, and the fate of humanity to do so.

Why People Don't Prioritize Truth

But first, why do people so easily deprioritize truth?

The fundamental issue is that the vast majority of people don't even have an objective truth to orient themselves toward.

If you're an atheist, and you think you orient toward “science”, know that what you really mean is, “I defer to whatever the most politically powerful scientists call ‘the scientific consensus’”. And that “consensus” is often wrong, doesn’t and can never answer the most fundamental questions that matter to your flourishing, and is constantly changing. Which means… you’re constantly reorienting. You end up asking "What does Dr. Fauci think?" But Dr. Fauci doesn't even know what he thinks. When he was in power, he was asking himself "What can I do to stay in power, stay relevant, get on talk shows?"

People I've met who don't have objective truth just ask themselves "What do other people think?" not "What actually makes sense? What's actually true?"

First, you need to have a truth to orient yourself toward—something to ground yourself in, a north star to strive toward. What's the best possible version of yourself? To define that, you must have an objective truth about ideal forms in the first place. Whether you base your objective reality in the Christian tradition or something else, if you don't have objective truth, you're swimming in a sea of relativity—epistemological quicksand.

But even if you do have some kind of objective truth you're trying to orient toward, it's still easy to avoid prioritizing it. Why? Because living in truth means suffocating your desires, admitting your faults, and knowing that you are prone to self-delusion.

What's more is that it's easy to live in fear of actually living the truth, especially when it involves challenging a person, system, or principality that genuinely scares you.

For example, speaking truth about serious injustices—like an institution in your country that funds genocide—could cost you your career or even your life. If living in truth could cost you everything, would you still do it?

This is why it's helpful to believe in something beyond this realm. When you’re not afraid of death, you're free to prioritize truth regardless of earthly consequences.

When you are afraid of death, you’re a puppet. Even if you’re a billionaire. Even if you’re a “world leader”. This is just the brutal reality.

What Happens When You Deprioritize Truth

Prioritizing truth could cost you your life. But from the point of view of someone who loves and fears the Most High God, I believe there are worse consequences than death for prioritizing literally anything else above truth.

Your days won't flow. Your relationships will fail. You will be lost despite having more information than any generation in history.

Prioritizing anything above truth neuters you. It drains you of your true power. And you become a sad imitation of who God designed you to be.

When you place money above truth, you become willing to lie for profit.

When you place relationships above truth, you surround yourself with toxic enablers.

When you place pleasure above truth, you live in fantasies that eventually collapse.

The list goes on…

I've watched friends destroy themselves this way. They wanted to feel loved more than they wanted to see clearly, so they stayed with partners who were obviously wrong for them. They wanted to feel successful more than they wanted to build something real, so they chased short term metrics that had nothing to do with actually contributing to other people’s well-being.

The pattern is always the same: when you create something in the world from a frame of prioritizing anything above truth, both you and your creations become corrupted.

Your money becomes fake money—debt, speculation, schemes. Your relationships become fake relationships—performance, manipulation, transaction. Your success becomes fake success—hollow achievements that leave you feeling empty and ultimately have nothing to do with your divine calling.

Take what I call "sycosis" (aka sychophancy-driven psychosis)—the consequences of surrounding yourself with yes men, both human and digital. When you prioritize status or self-image above truth, you only accept people in your life who tell you what you want to hear. Your friends become flatterers. Your advisors become enablers. And if you can't find human enablers, you'll turn to ChatGPT and a comforting corner of TikTok. See: Keep Your Crew Tight and Holy for building relationships with those who'll tell you hard truths.

This feels good in the moment. It protects your ego. But it's the seed of your inevitable destruction. You lose all connection to reality because no one around you is willing to tell you hard truths. You make terrible decisions based on false information. You become delusional about your own abilities and blind to obvious problems.

I watched this exact yes-man dynamic destroy people's moral courage when I was at the press conference at the Capitol with Epstein survivors last week. Here was the most basic moral test imaginable: Will you release files about an international child trafficking operation? This should be unanimous, bipartisan, obvious.

Instead, I watched almost every Republican Congressperson fail spectacularly. Trump wants those files hidden, and suddenly elected officials who claim to care about doing the right thing show their true colors. They become his yes men on this issue because challenging him would cost them access and influence.

They'd rather protect their careers and relationships with powerful people than stand with former child-trafficking victims. They've surrounded themselves with advisors who tell them what's politically smart rather than what's morally right.

On the other hand, people who prioritize truth make genuinely meaningful sacrifices for the good of continually improving their understanding of reality as it actually is, not as they wish it were. They don’t seek false, comforting ideologies or talking points that justify their inaction in, say, situations that demand courage.

Prioritizing truth requires genuine humility. It means admitting when you're wrong or self-seeking. It means questioning assumptions you've held for years. It means sacrificing comforting illusions for uncomfortable facts about who or what you actually serve.

The vast majority of people—including our "representatives" in government, big names in academia and online spheres, and so-called titans in the business world—can't handle this.

It’s obvious once you detach yourself from stories of “American exceptionalism” or whatever grand narrative you made an idol of that stopped you from seeing uncomfortable truths.

The Ultimate Truth

As a follower of Christ, I know that truth isn't just the highest value because it works pragmatically.

Truth is the highest value because God is Truth. And when you align yourself with Truth, you align yourself with the fundamental structure of reality.

This is why Christ said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." He wasn't offering one path among many—He was revealing that truth itself has a personal nature, that reality itself is grounded in divine love.

He also promised us that:

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."* — John 8:31-32

When you prioritize Truth (intentionally capitalized to emphasize the Logos of Christ as the ultimate truth), you're not just making a smart strategic choice. You're submitting to the Way that the Most High God designed reality to function.

(Here, I write “The Most High God” to emphasize the existence of lesser “gods” that men worship like Baal)

But just because Truth is the right principle to embody, the right lifestyle to go all in on, doesn't mean it's easy to live Truth. In fact, it involves an excruciating transition. Living in Truth requires dying to yourself—your ego, your preferences, your need to be right. It requires trusting that Truth is ultimately good, even when it feels like it's harshly judging how you are currently living, and forcing you to recognize that you must reevaluate your work, your friend circles, and destroy all of the idols you've erected in your head and heart along the way.

The Authority Christ Gives Us

You can think that you're living in truth even without Christ, and it's good to start prioritizing truth regardless. But what Christ gives us is His authority—authority to cast out demons, to heal people, to be supernatural warriors for Christ.

Jesus said: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." — Luke 10:19

Part of that supernatural ability we all have is to pray. We all have different giftings—not everyone can necessarily fully circumvent the medical system, but some people do have those giftings. Some people have the gift of prophecy. Others have different gifts that can be used to advance God's kingdom and unlock heaven on earth.

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy..." — 1 Corinthians 12:7-10

But we are all given the power to cast out demons if we come to Christ. We are all given the power to cast out the demons within ourselves as well—to cast out the shadow within ourselves.

"These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." — Mark 16:17-18

We are not living in the Old Testament world. We are living in a world post-Christ's death and resurrection, post-Pentecost. There is so much power available that you do not understand.

You basically gain superpowers!

We Live in Spiritual Reality

Fundamentally, we live in a spiritual reality that has material consequences. It is not material reality that creates consciousness. We live in a spiritual reality where consciousness exists in a realm we will never comprehend but whose divine justice system we must have faith. Yes, we can create machines that mimic our linguistic abilities, but what makes humans powerful is not just our ability to form sentences and speak.

What makes humans human is our heart posture, and our ability to have a direct link with God.

You are more than a clump of atoms. You are more than your chemical reactions. You have a spirit, soul, and body. The spirit connects to God. The soul contains your mind, will, emotions, memory, and consciousness. The body interacts with the material world.

When you understand that you are set apart from animals in a meaningful way, you begin to grasp truths like this: prayer can totally change the world.

Even one prayer warrior who humbly, faithfully, obediently prays in the way the Holy Spirit wants them to pray can kickstart revivals, trigger events that change material seats of power, and have massive material consequences.

Ultimately, when you make Truth your highest priority, everything else falls into proper alignment. Your relationships become authentic. Your work becomes meaningful. Your peace becomes unshakeable.

Not because life gets easier—in fact, the spiritual warfare waged on you will increase. But because you stop fighting against the grain of how God designed things to actually work.

I'm definitely not fully living in Truth yet. I’m sure I’m a hypocrite in ways I can’t see yet. And I'm sure I will always stumble. For example, negative feedback irks me even if it's true. I still catch myself wanting to hear what makes me feel good rather than what's true and constructive. And I still sometimes choose pleasure over doing the right thing. But I've tasted enough of what Truth offers to know it's worth the cost.

You can keep prioritizing your feelings, your reputation, your short-term gains. You can keep living in the fantasy that Truth is optional.

But I promise you this: reality wins in the end. You can either align yourself with it willingly, or have it forced upon you through suffering. A form of suffering that you now know can be totally avoided and replaced with a peace that can barely be put into words.

The choice is yours. But choose quickly—every day you delay makes the eventual reckoning more painful.

You Already Know How To Become Your True Self

Here's the thing about seeking Truth: you were designed to know it. You were designed to live in a way that is honorable, that maximally supports your flourishing and the flourishing of others. Toward eternity. You were made to synchronize with God and the ordering of life.

I know life is full of messy, real-world scenarios where you're navigating competing principles or values that you hold dear. How do you prioritize Truth without completely denying your compassion for others? How do you navigate competing truth claims? How do you know which voices to trust, when so many people, including myself, speak with such conviction?

In my experience, this is why connecting with the truest thing possible—which I believe is the Way of Christ—is so practically important. Part of that Way is surrounding yourself with wise counsel. Part of that Way is diving into Scripture. Part of that Way is praying regularly, building a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit, and letting Him order your steps.

I have my own evolving views about what the Way is and how I ought to follow it, but ultimately, you should know that you are totally equipped to discern the Truth of the Way if you earnestly seek it. The right people will come into your life, and you will be able to cultivate the right heart posture and the intellectual humility needed to build your life on deeper and more truthful foundations.

If you haven't bought into the Truth of Christ, that's not the focus of this piece. There are tons of educational resources for that. But the Truth of Christ is something you experience with your heart, before you start to meaningfully understand it with your mind.

I don't want to assume how or when you'll experience the Truth of Christ. If you ask ten true believers, you’ll get ten different testimonies. But I promise you that your unique experience will begin to awaken your understanding of everything that truly matters.

Whether you pursue a relationship with Christ or not, just remember that everything and everyone around you contributes to whether you are living more or less in Truth. And that deep inside, you have the wisdom and courage you need to become who you were designed to be.

The Fate of Humanity Is In Your Hands And Heart

I talked a lot about the personal benefits of prioritizing the Truth.

But what’s more is this:

If you care about changing the world and helping humanity, the path to more good and just systems for ourselves, our friends, and all our current and future family members depends on you shifting the context of reality to reward those who embody Truth.

Our current world is insane, evil, upside-down, Kafkaesque at almost every fractal level. Changing the essence at every level has everything to do with you embodying Truth at the smallest fractal and supporting others in doing the same.

When you prioritize Truth in your personal relationships, you create a pocket of sanity. When you prioritize Truth in your work, you create real value. When you prioritize Truth in your community, you create genuine culture.

And changing your fractal ripples into the wider fractals. And all of this lovingly honors our Creator.

But understand this: we are not just fighting against human weakness or institutional failure. As Scripture tells us:

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." — Ephesians 6:12

This isn't theoretical. History shows us what happens when individuals step into their spiritual authority through prayer and obedience to Truth:

John Knox wielded such spiritual authority through prayer that Mary Queen of Scots said she feared his prayers more than an army of 10,000 men. His intercession helped topple kingdoms and establish the Scottish Reformation.

William Seymour, through humble prayer and radical obedience at Azusa Street, witnessed miraculous healings, speaking in tongues, and supernatural manifestations that ignited the Pentecostal revival spreading across the globe.

Saint John of Kronstadt performed countless miraculous healings through prayer and was known for his prophetic gifts. People traveled from across Russia seeking his intercession, witnessing God's power through his spiritual authority.

One person living in deep truth and spiritual authority really can shift reality at massive scales.

The corruption we see in American and global institutions didn't happen overnight. It happened because millions (if not billions) of individuals chose comfort in their current fallen ways over Truth, one small, plausibly-deniable compromise at a time. And make no mistake: this corruption has spiritual roots—principalities and powers that thrive on deception.

Healing, restoration, rebirth, or whatever you want to call it… happens the same way—one person at a time stepping into their spiritual suthority choosing Truth over comfort every day with every conscious action they take.

Yes, I am saying that the fate of the world is in your hands. Or perhaps more accurately, in your heart. Just as it is in the hands and heart of every single other human on earth.

As I've said before, we are nodes in the Most High God's divine neural net. Single nodes, but each important beyond our comprehension.

If you're not already a follower of Christ, I pray that you will come to Him. And if you already are, I pray that you will grow deeper in understanding just how beautiful the reality is that the Most High God designed for us.

Deep down, you know that you are a child of the Most High God. You will find great peace once you embrace this. And that peace will matter more and more the more chaotic the world gets, as we near the End.

I love you.

The Most High God loves you.

Truth is calling.

Come to Him.

We need you in this fight.