Today's Passage - John 8:12-20

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english John 8:12-20   When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."  Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going....   Jesus said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  In other word, if we do not follow God, we're actually walking in darkness!  Looking at the world today, we can call this the generation of darkness, because lots of people are living in darkness.  Jesus said in this passage: "I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going."  Indeed, many people who live in the world do not know where they came from and where they are going; therefore, they simply live day to day, seeking pleasure of the moment without knowing the meaning and direction of their life.   If one departs from God, he will not see the value of life, and he will merely follow the trend of the world.  We need to turn back before God, for we can leave the darkness of this world and walk in the truth of the Lord only when the light of the Lord is inside us.  The Gospel of John also mentioned that life of the Lord is the light for men.  When we accept the life of the Lord inside us, it's like a bright shining light in the darkness.  In the past, we do not see any way out of our life, but when there is light in our life, we can see the value or meaning of our life, and we will understand that we need to follow the Lord.   Once we leave the Lord, we are in darkness.  Not only will we miss the direction ahead of us, we will also not see our shortcomings and things that need to be changed.  It's like a Chinese fable of Zhouchu; he heard that there are three troublemakers in his village, and went ahead helped the villagers to kill the first two, but then he realized that the third one was himself.  We were like that as well - We often see shortcoming of other people, but do not see where we need to be changed.  May God's light come and shine upon us and help us to see our blind spots.  May Lord Jesus Christ cleanse our sins with His precious blood, and may God help us to solely follow Him.  We will not be walking in the darkness only when we follow Him!                            Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you because you are the light of the world and light of our life.  We welcome you to come and reign in our lives.  Guide us and become our strength, so that we may proclaim victory against the enemy each and every day by your might.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!