Forget the Two Week Notice!

It is a common practice in the States that an employee give a "two week notice" before leaving for another job.  Though it was never written into any of my working agreements, it is a simple courtesy which helps workers leave on good terms.  But there is a drawback to giving advance notice.  A difficultly arises when the company a worker is currently employed with comes back with an offer of better wages, role, or benefit package.  The employee who for some time had been seeking other employment and committed to a different job now faces a gut-wrenching decision:  leave the current company or burn the bridge you were planning to cross to the new job venture.  Most people I know who have been in this situation tend to stay with the same company.  I know other people who quit on the spot without giving notice because they did not want to have to deal with the dilemma.

I always put in a minimum of a two-week notice with all the companies I worked for, and some of them in writing.  It was always a matter of personal principal to never use a notice as a "threat" or leverage to try to improve my situation within a company.  I never put in my notice until I was convinced that it was God leading me to do so.  That way when the dialogue began or offers were presented, my decision was already final because it was God who had directed me to take the next step.  Had I not had this anchor for my heart and soul, I no doubt would have caved under the pressure of other people's opinions.  The trouble is, unless we make the decision to follow Christ without reservation, our tendency is to head right back to our worldly ways.  The devil is a master of sweetening the deal.  It is likely not a sin to decide to stay with your original company, but that's not the point.  Spiritually speaking, it is folly to choose bondage to sin and Satan over a life lived completely in service of Jesus Christ.

This same struggle is played out in the world daily on a spiritual level.  In our natural state, man is sinful and cut off from fellowship with God.  Once a man repents and trusts in Christ, his role is to pray and seek to deliver others from bondage to sin, the flesh, and Satan.  Believers are exhorted in 2 Timothy 2:24-26:  "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, ²⁵ in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, ²⁶ and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."  Those who are unregenerate, those who remain spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, are Satan's captives for the purpose of doing his will.  In embracing his "freedom" a sinner remains in perpetual opposition to God.  Knowing this, Christians ought to be filled with compassion, patience, gentleness, and humility to enlighten lost sinners to the knowledge of Christ through the Gospel.

The passing pleasures of sin might be attractive and enjoyable for a season, but in the end bring regret, sorrow, and death.  There is only danger in giving the devil a two-week notice.  The call of Jesus is a call we must respond to immediately.  For example Matthew 4:18-20 reads, "And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." ²⁰ They immediately left their nets and followed Him."  Peter and Andrew did not put in their two-week notice.  They did not remain with their fishing company until they were assured of being vested in the Fisherman's Local Union.  They dropped their tools and followed Jesus.  In Luke 5:27-28 we read of another case:  "After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." ²⁸ So he left all, rose up, and followed Him."  Levi, also known as Matthew, was literally sitting in his office when Jesus called him to follow.  He left all, rose up, and followed Him.  This is the fundamental cost of following Jesus as a disciple:  your life.  When we lose our lives for Christ's sake, we save them.

When a man leaves a company for another, it is not uncommon for people to bolster their income through "side-work" or "moonlighting."  During the day, a man goes to work for his new company.  But on the afternoons or weekends he continues to work with his old contacts.  The danger of this arrangement is divided allegiance, especially if the man is working for himself.  Spiritually speaking, it is a disastrous position to be living for the glory of God for some of the time but serving Satan and self when "off the clock."  No man can serve two masters, and no one can serve both God and the world.  There are few things more disastrous to the life of a Christian than a divided heart.  Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."  In this exhortation and promise is also a warning:  if we seek God halfheartedly, we should not be surprised when God, His wisdom, strength, and comfort are strangely absent.  We must choose whom we will serve, and our lives display our answer more than words ever could.

Jesus has opened His arms on the cross to all the sinners in the world saying, "Follow me."  We must immediately answer this call, leaving all behind.  We need not give the devil, the world, or anyone notice before we make this commitment.  Once we follow Jesus as disciples, we are to put off all side-work for Satan.  Instead of giving place to the devil, we are told by Christ to "Occupy until I come" and be about His business for God's glory.  Let us seek the LORD with all our hearts, rejecting any tantalising offers the world may give us to lure our hearts away from God.  Answer the call with "Yes!" and "Amen!"