This is the second post in a series explaining my five core values.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:32

I value truth because there is no point in knowing something that is not true. There is no point in being something that is not true. Who wants to live a lie?

One of the best proverbs regarding truth is Proverbs 23:23, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; get wisdom and instruction and understanding.” How many thousands of dollars do we spend in our culture trying to learn? I was talking to a friend today and he told me, “You never get out of school. I’m 30 and I’m still doing it!” He hasn’t literally been in a classroom his entire life since preschool, but he’s always been trying to learn something. We all have to, if we want to grow or progress, either in careers or in relationships or in our selves. Everyone wants to have the best teacher, too. You know what makes someone (or something) the best teacher? They get across the most truth.

And that’s just human advancement, to say nothing of interpersonal relationships. What is the defining characteristic of relationships? Trust. What’s trust built on? Truth: honesty, integrity, honor, and openness. Why is it that schools try to instill honor codes in their pupils? How does something like a lie or even just a lack of openness break up so many marriages? It’s because the truth is valuable. Matthew 5:37 adjures us to say what we mean and mean what we say… be truthful.

As I wrote earlier this week, I’m a stickler for grammar, because language (words and their arrangement, otherwise known as diction and grammar) is the most accurate method humankind has of transmitting truth. Music or visual art may help to communicate depth or degree of feelings for which there are no words, but the precision of the spoken or written word is too valuable to discard for lack of motivation to use accepted standards. Language is valuable because truth is valuable!

Any way you look at it, truth is essential. If there is no truth, we may as well not even bother with anything. Thankfully, there is truth. Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). So TRUTH is the second of my five core values.

Five Core Values: Christ, Truth, Personal Responsibility, Perseverance, Manliness