“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” John 8:12.

The obvious truth of John 8:12 is that the Christian has the light of life. He is set free from superstition and darkness. Yet the Christian must follow Jesus to walk in the light.

This holds true of those who are searching for God, follow Jesus and He will guide you to the light and salvation.

Refer back to the woman taken in adultery, after Jesus had said to her accusers, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” John 8:7b.

Their response in John 8:9 was, “Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one…” these men who were walking in darkness brought this woman in on a charge of adultery.

So blinded by their own hypocrisy they forgot the vileness of their own sinful state. But the Holy Spirit shined a brilliant light into the darkest places within their hearts.

So thorough was this conviction that none had the strength left to lift a stone, but only to file out meekly one by one.

This incident has a great deal to say about self-righteousness. It also demonstrates the truth of Scripture.

“For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

Men are very myopic in their view of themselves and often overlook the big things in their lives especially when they focus on the flaws of others. They miss the beam in their own eye while checking out the speck of dust in another.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck out of your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5.

Christians can be guilty of this too. They look around and say I am not so bad and they become sloppy in their own life, all the while, dragging the adulterous woman before everyone.

We must continually examine ourselves in the light of Scripture to live righteously in Christ. Let it be emphasized that this examination is not done by looking at others and giving ourselves a good grade because we are either better than them or just as righteous as a leader in the church or some other highly respected Christian.

“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” 2 Corinthians 10:12.

The reason for this is simple; the hearts of men often become conformed to the society around them over time.

It is because of this that the only person to measure oneself by is Christ Himself; it is His moral and world view which will never change. Granted this is a tall order, but it is the only way to see yourself correctly.

“Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ and I said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said: ‘Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.’” Amos 7:7-8.

To anyone who may not know what a plumb line is, it is like a piece of string with a small weight attached to one end. When you hold the other end of the string and lift it up, the line will always be completely vertical. So if you are driving a post into the ground and you want to make sure it is straight you hold the plumb line next to it and compare the two.

Just as you drop a plumb line to see if a wall is exactly vertical or not, so Christ was the plumb line that God had dropped among the Jews and found them wanting.

That same plumb line exists for us too. We must ask ourselves, how do we measure up to Christ? Nobody is perfect, even the Apostle Paul admitted this.

But the goal is set before us, and the wise Christian focuses on it and stretches toward the mark.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2.

The tough part of the above is determining to present your body a living sacrifice to God.

The transforming by the renewing of your mind is a little more passive than you would expect. We cannot minimize this though; it still takes discipline on our part to reach our goal.

“…put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:22b-24.

Did you notice the words, “…the deceitful lusts”, it is interesting that God calls lust or sin deceitful, see the following verse.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12-13.

These verses in Ephesians and Hebrews are being proven right now, in our own time. Many Christians, not only do not speak out against the desecration of marriage, but many have come to think that these things that are happening are all right.

No they are not all right, they are vile. The same with corruption in government, well, these things are normal; no, they are not, they are evil and should be opposed.

Abortion, euthanasia, children born out of wedlock, sexual perversion, lying, granted these things are being opposed, but not by all Christians, why?

Because sin is deceitful and quietly spreads while those who should be concerned are distracted by the meaningless amusements of the world as it presses them into its mold.

Much of the cause of this problem is that many Christians have not presented their bodies a living sacrifice, nor have they recognized the following exhortations.

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” Philippians 4:8.

I AM the Light, John 8:12 taken from godisrevealed.com
expanded and redacted 11-27-12, originally published on 9/24/09, updated on 10-15-17.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.