Passage
Iesus answered, If I honour my selfe, mine honour is nothing worth: it is my Father that honoureth me, whome ye say, that hee is your God.
John 8:54 (GNV)
Nearby Context
John 8:52 Then said the Iewes to him, Now know we that thou hast a deuill. Abraham is dead, and the Prophets: and thou sayest, If a man keepe my worde, he shall neuer taste of death.
John 8:53 Art thou greater then our father Abraham, which is dead? and the Prophets are dead: whome makest thou thy selfe?
John 8:54 Iesus answered, If I honour my selfe, mine honour is nothing worth: it is my Father that honoureth me, whome ye say, that hee is your God.
John 8:55 Yet ye haue not knowen him: but I knowe him, and if I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like vnto you: but I knowe him, and keepe his worde.
John 8:56 Your father Abraham reioyced to see my day, and he sawe it, and was glad.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "iesus", "answered", "honour", "selfe", "mine", "nothing", and "worth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "iesus" and "answered", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 53's "Art thou greater then our father Abraham..." into verse 55's "Yet ye haue not knowen him but...", so "iesus" and "answered" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "iesus" and "answered" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.