For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11
Have you ever been in a relationship, whether it be personal, business or otherwise that for some reason ended earlier than you expected it to? You started out with such grand plans, hopes, and dreams to have it all end without warning. Maybe it was something you said, or they said or something someone did or a combination of all these things. You don’t really know how or why it happens. It somehow became short term and not long term.
When you start out on a new venture or relationship, you plan for the long term. You think about all the good that will come out of it. However, when it ends abruptly, you are left wondering why you had to go through all of it in the first place. You might find yourself thinking that’s it been a big waste of time – you could have put all that time and effort into something that was going to last. A part of you might be wishing it never happened at all.
After a while, we begin to realise that if we hadn’t gone through the short term, we wouldn’t be ready for the long term. Thankfully, God knows that. He knows that sometimes we need the short term to bring about His long term.
Going through the short term helps us to get to where God wants us to be in the long term. We learn more about ourselves and learn lessons about how we will handle similar situations in the future. God sometimes uses the short term to get us back on track and to show us where our focus should be. A business relationship that goes sour could teach us how to use our talents and resources more wisely. A romantic relationship that goes bust may show us what type of person we should be looking for. A friendship ending could tell us that we need to be around people who build us up and not tear us down.
Sometimes the only way we can learn things is to go through things. Short-term plans and relationships are necessary in the sense that if we haven’t been there and done that, we will have no idea what God wants us to be doing in the long term. God’s long-term is unknown to us. We don’t know the plans God has for us, but rest assured He does have them. We will make mistakes with our own short-term plans, but God will use that for His glory.
There is a quote that says sometimes you must go through the worst to get the best. Short-term plans that start off well and end worse are what we need to go through to get to God’s best. The key is not to dwell on the short term but look to the long term. Our whole life is made up of short-term plans and relationships to bring about God’s long-term plan of salvation and eternity.
Originally published August 2018