Two Resignations

The past few weeks I had to deal with resignation fellowship from two brothers. One, of course, is due to ill health and the other is due to the egoist self. In both cases, I shepherded the brothers in the way I knew of the Lord.

The first brother has been serving in the litertaure service for a couple of years. Since he began to serve he has been found to be very faithful in all the works assigned to him. He worked so hard to the extend that he sacrificed his health in a good number of cases. Even in matters new to him, he took the time to learn and get acquainted with, and even became professional. On the work front, he was quite exemplary. 

The sad part of his service was, he often fell I'll and has been facing a serious health issue. Every time he mentioned his health condition, I would encourage him to take good rest, and take care of his health. I had, time and again, mentioned to him that his health was needed for the Lord's service. And officially granted him as many health leaves as he would need. The serving ones are human being too and they all need to be taken care in a humane way.

When he wrote a mail of his resignation from his service stating health reason, I took no time to consider too much. When I took the matter to the Lord in prayer, I was confirmed within that I should not stop him from his resignation. Perhaps, the Lord knew better and I should not interfere. Therefore, I fellowshipped with my coordinator and informed this brother of our best wish for his career forward. In fact, I called and fellowshipped with him, and prayed with him. Immediately, I also increased the responsibility of another brother to pick up this brother's services so that the normal office works would not be affected. Therefore, all the official documents he asked for, for his future move, have been issued. Though he would no longer serve full-time officially with the literature, he will still continue to support within his capacity and availability as a volunteer. Therefore, the matter has been resolved.

The other brother came to fellowship about his resignation from the IT company he has been working with. In fellowship as fellow brother, I came to learn that the reason for his resignation has nothing to do with conflict of interest in the matter of faith and belief or the principles a Christian should strictly hold. But the simple reason was the lack of trust between him and his manager. The point of contention was simply a matter of the self. In this case, I encouraged him to submit to authority and simply overlook the lack of trust and maturity he expected from his manager.

As my beloved brother, I fellowshipped with my brother that he should probably take back his resignation and swallow up the differences he had with his earthly boss. The word of God simply tells us to submit to authority, who was also ordained by Him. The lesson of submission, my brother need to learn. To me, the experience he went through was very apt as he has come into the church life and has been growing in the Lord. This was just another lesson he has to pass through to be spiritually promoted to the next level. I felt very good about his experience and thought to myself that unless my brother learn the lesson of submission in the secular world, he would find it hard to submit in the church life as well, among the brothers. So the experience he went through was applaudable. In fact, very much needed. I hope and I trust the Lord will grace my brother to overcome this situation, learn the lesson of submission, experience the crucified Christ, go through the valley of Bacca, and come out victoriously. Then, he will become very useful in the Lord's hand.

The lessons from the two resignations are noteworthy. These experiences are very much needed in the church life for the corporate building up of the church, the Body of Christ. 

Much grace be upon my brothers. Amen.