1912 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

and inherency of life.Our Lord's words show that He was not wishing toaspire to these glorious things. Very humbly He said,"Father, I have come to do Thy will. Father, I shallperform the work Thou hast given Me to do and I shallbe glad to be returned to the glory I had with Thee--to ask nothing as a favor. I am glad that I have hadthis privilege, and I think that I shall not sufferby reason of My obedience to Thy will. I shallbe glad, therefore, to be with Thee in the glory that Ishared with Thee before the world was."He did not say to the Father, "Do not forget to payMe; do not forget what Thou didst promise." No. Hedid the Father's will without any thought of compensationconnected with it. So with us. Anyone who looks forthe divine nature merely as a reward and feels that itis due him, is taking an improper view. We should feelthat to be on the side of righteousness and to be identifiedwith our Lord Jesus is a great privilege, if there beno reward of the divine nature at all; but the thought ofthe reward is a great incentive to run patiently for somethingsuper-abundant, exceedingly beyond what we couldhave asked or thought.====================R5067 : page 232DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES--AUGUST 25.--LUKE 4:16-30.--Text: "He came unto His own, and they thatwere His own received Him not."--John 1:11.THE CHILDHOOD HOME of Jesus wasNazareth, although He was born in Bethlehem.The people of Nazareth would ofcourse feel a certain sense of pride in theirfellow-citizen whose fame was spreadingthroughout all Galilee and Judea. HearingR5068 : page 232of the mighty works and wonderful teachingsgiven at Capernaum, they not unnaturallysaid to themselves, Well, of courseHe will soon return to His own town andgive us a sight of His wonderful power. And yet, theyreflected, Is not this Jesus, whose mother and brethren weknow, and who has for a long time been identified withJoseph's carpenter shop?They could scarcely believe what they had heard. Howcould it be that so soon after leaving home He had becomeso famous and so powerful? He never did suchmiracles in all the years that we knew Him, said they.