The Bachelor's Bargain (40 page)
11. Here are several Bible passages that speak about obedience and disobedience. Read them and decide what you believe God is trying to say to you about this subject.
Now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations
that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may
live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the L
ORD
,
the God of your ancestors, is giving you. (Deuteronomy 4:1)
I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those
who love me and obey my commands. (Deuteronomy 5:10)
O L
ORD
, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of
heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing
love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion.
(2 Chronicles 6:14)
Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people
like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the L
ORD
.
Terror will grip them, for God is with those who obey him.
The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the L
ORD
will protect his people. (Psalm 14:4-6)
Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of
the L
ORD
. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for
him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil,
and they walk only in his paths. (Psalm 119:1-3)
[Jesus said,] “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’
will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually
do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.” (Matthew
7:21)
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all
authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new
disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be
sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
[Jesus said,]“Why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when
you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when
someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows
it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays
the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and
break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built.
But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who
builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep
down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of
ruins.” (Luke 6:46-49)
12. How are these verses different from Romans 8:28?
Anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone
who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life
but remains under God’s angry judgment. (John 3:36)
[Jesus said,] “If you love me, obey my commandments.”
(John 14:15)
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love,
just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his
love. (John 15:10)
You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying
the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.
He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to
obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the
passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By
our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like
everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that
even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life
when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s
grace that you have been saved!) (Ephesians 2:2-5)
Get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly
accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the
power to save your souls.
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it
says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you
listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your
face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget
what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect
law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t
forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
(James 1:21-25)
Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the
anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate
in the things these people do. For once you were full of
darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as
people of light! (Ephesians 5:6-8)
Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose
sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record
the L
ORD
has cleared of sin. (Romans 4:7-8)
There are many more teachings in the Bible about obedience. Do you think you are obedient—as God wants you to be? If not, why don’t you ask God to forgive you right now, and then to help you follow Him more closely. That’s what obedience is all about!
Regular readers may recall that trifling tidbits need to be tidied:
Can Anne and Ruel confound the sniping and simpering Society which so besets them? Will they live in London or set up housekeeping at Slocombe?
What is to befall our pretty Prudence? Will she wed Walker, or leap into the arms of a new love?
What of maternal Mary and her sickly spouse? Will he get well? And what of their wee one?
Sarah and Charles, happily home at last! But what awaits the Lockes when their shipment of tea arrives in London . . . or doesn’t?
Dear dapper Delacroix . . . still sailing the seas in search of tea. Will he return safe and sound? Or will storms, shipwrecks, and savages undo him?
The Duke and Duchess of Marston, such a powerful pair! What will the dire death of their second son mean to them, and will they still favor their first with both title and wealth?
Charles Locke’s father, James . . . young Danny Martin, the ship’s boy . . . Mr. Walker, the blacksmith . . . Ruel’s birth mother . . . a cast of characters currently left languishing.
Miss Pickworth urges faithful readers to familiarize themselves with another group of Regency friends whose lives are soon to interact with those who live at Cranleigh Crescent. Please read
Wild Heather
and
Sweet Violet
. And take special note of one particular gentleman, William Sherbourne, whose languid life is soon to take a tumultuous turn!
After you have read those books, do please join Miss Pickworth as she observes a most confounding conundrum in
The Courteous
Cad
(available summer 2007).
Dear Friend,
Lace, tea, and a good book. What else could any woman want? As it turns out, we ladies require much more to keep us functioning—and fulfilled. Though I live beside a sleepy lake in a small resort community, I watch women all around me cram their days to the brim with husbands, children, jobs, manicures, shopping sprees, trips to the grocery store, luncheons, gardening, quilting, cooking, transporting kids from one event to another, and many other activities. Sometimes it wears me out just thinking about all the “stuff” we women do.
But how often do we stop and take time to listen to the way
God
wants us to spend our time, money, and energy? If you’re like me, you make lists and then plunge forward into the day with the fervent hope that you can accomplish everything on your schedule. I wonder if the Lord gets awfully tired of watching
me
do
my
thing on
my
time.
What does our heavenly Father really want of His children? When was the last time you asked? Are the activities that fill your day done in obedience to His will? Or are you planning your own life . . . and then counting on Him to mop up the mess you’ve made by acting willfully?
Isn’t it wonderful that in Psalm 37, God promises that even when we stumble—and, like Anne in
The Bachelor’s Bargain
, we certainly will—we will not be hurled headlong off the cliff of self-righteousness? The Lord is holding our hand. Praise Him!
Several years ago, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the possibility of writing novels with a Regency setting. I’ve always loved that period in England (1811–1820), when chaos reigned among England’s royalty, Napoleon was wreaking havoc on land and sea, and the writer Jane Austen— delightfully oblivious to the pandemonium—was penning her charming books.
You may be wondering what the Regency period was all about and why it fascinates me so. Please visit my Web site at
catherinepalmer.com
to step further into this wonderful world of lords and ladies, tea parties and pirates, grand manor houses and wee cottages, and of course, true love!
This series features my favorite character, Miss Pickworth, London Society’s witty tattler and advice dispenser. Who is this cleverly cunning columnist? Well, my dear friend, you’ll just have to keep reading to find out!
Blessings,
Catherine Palmer
Catherine Palmer’s first book was published in 1988, and since then she has published more than forty books. There are more than two million copies of her books in print.
In 2005, Catherine was awarded the Career Achievement Award for Inspirational Romance by
Romantic Times
Bookclub
magazine. Catherine’s novels
Sunrise Song, The
Happy Room
, and
A Dangerous Silence
are CBA best-sellers. Her book
A Touch of Betrayal
won the 2001 Christy Award for Romance, and
Wild Heather
was a finalist for the 2005 Christy Award. Her novella “Under His Wings,” which appears in the anthology
A Victorian Christmas Cottage,
was named Northern Lights Best Novella of 1999, historical category, by Midwest Fiction Writers.
Catherine lives in Missouri with her husband, Tim, and sons, Geoffrey and Andrei. She has degrees from Baylor University and Southwest Baptist University.