Accentuate the Positive

I have been thinking about Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world” in John chapter 8. This comes between the story of the woman caught in adultery and the healing of the blind man. Jesus says that he is the light of the world, and if you walk in the light there will be no darkness. When we hear this we think about light in the sense of turning on the light, which is I am sure one meaning of the text and it is the most obvious because Jesus said he was the light of the world. So the darkness will fade, yet I can not help but think this is not the only meaning to this text. I mean the woman caught in adultery followed by the healing of the blind man to me says this means more than just light and dark/black and white.

I believe it has all to do with attitude, and our perception of things. When we see something that is wrong, say a little black spot on a white sheet, we focus on the negative. We focus on the little black spot rather than the whiteness of the sheet. Why is that? Jesus said to the Pharisees who caught the woman in adultery, “let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone.” Interesting there was one among them that had no sin, yet did not pick up and cast a stone. He was not focused on the sin, the negativity, but loving the person, the positive, in the one caught in the negative act. We focus on the negative, and then can not see the beauty around us. Let us focus on the positive, and see the beauty of the white sheet, rather than the blemished black dot. Do not cover up the negative, just do not accentuate it, instead in the words of the Mercer/Arlen song, “You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.” And here are the lyrics to help you sing a little bit.