Choose Your Temporary Carefully

Ruth 1:1
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.

Amplified Bible
In the days when the judges governed [Israel], there was a famine in the land [of Canaan]. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live temporarily in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

Temporary is brief, doesn’t take long, and will soon end and get forgotten. When something is temporary, we do not worry much about it because it will not last long. Many times we do not give much thought when we decide to engage on the temporary. The message today is, choose your temporary carefully!

We have temporary buildings. We have temporary shelters. We have temporary friends for a short season in a foreign place and then we go back to our normal. We have temporary projects. We have temporary opinions. We have temporary escapades, some call them one-night stand. There are things that are wrong but we accept to engage in them because we have convinced ourselves that they are temporary. The message today is, choose your temporary carefully!

Temporary doesn’t deserve too much attention but choose your temporary carefully. The Bible text today tells us that there was a famine in Bethlehem Judah. Elimelek and his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, went to Moab temporarily. They were escaping famine. They were not going to be away for long. This was a brief relocation then they go back home after the famine. This was supposed to be temporary. Choose your temporary carefully!

Ruth 1:3-5
(3) Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. (4)They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, (5) both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

In this land in which they were to be in briefly, Elimelek died. Death is not good, but many times if we had to make a choice, we would prefer to die at home or close to home amongst relatives and friends. In this temporary home that no one expected to die, Elimelek died. Naomi went to Moab married but the temporary trip left her widowed. The trip to Moab was temporary, but the events there were permanent. Choose your temporary carefully!

In that temporary land, the sons of Naomi, Mahlon, and Kilion grew up and even married. The Bible says, they married and after about ten years, they died. Are ten years temporary? Ten years? Temporary? The Bible tells us they had gone to Moab for a while, for a sojourn, meaning they were just passing by briefly, more dynamic versions call it a temporary trip, other versions even ignore that concept in translation. Temporary was now rolling into ten years and counting. Choose your temporary carefully!

In this temporary trip, Naomi lost her husband and two sons. In this temporary trip, permanent things happened. Widowhood and childlessness happened in the temporary trip. Temporary things can have permanent consequences. Choose your temporary carefully!

This writer was waiting for a major scholarship to go and pursue studies in law in a foreign country. The scholarship would take longer to process. Therefore in consultation with relatives and friends he went to study Theology as the scholarship for studies in law was being processed. The lawyer friend who had benefited from that scholarship and who was assisting to get the scholarship learned that this writer had gone temporarily to the school of Theology. He wrote a letter and said, “I have learned that as you wait for the scholarship to study law, you have temporarily joined the school of Theology. I just want you to know that on the path of life, a small diversion can be a permanent route change.”

Those words came true. The scholarship to study law came as this writer pursued the third year in Theology. Wisdom was to complete studies in Theology and then resume law since a huge investment had already gone into studies in Theology. One thing led to another. The law scholarship couldn’t wait for one person. The call to pastoral ministry became clearer. Opportunities to serve came and passion for ministry developed. God gave more and more evidence that this is where He needed this writer. The temporary diversion became a permanent route change. Choose your temporary carefully!

That temporary drink of alcohol and use of illegal drugs just for fun with friends at a party may have permanent consequences. That drunken decision for brief sexual engagement with strangers or colleagues in a team-building trip may have permanent consequences. That temporary break from work to try a hand in business or something else may have permanent consequences. That temporary staying together with a member of the opposite gender as you plan to have separate houses in the expensive city life may have permanent consequences. That relationship you accept as you wait for the right person may end up with permanent consequences. Choose your temporary carefully!

That temporary burst of anger that you hope will quickly be deleted may lead to permanent consequences. That temporary physical assault on a partner in the moment of anger may be the fatal blow that lands you in jail for murder and leave children with no one to care for them. That temporary verbal abuse may not be the routine that will be forgotten with statements of relationships are like that, it may against your wish and plan lead to permanent strain in the relationship. That temporary decision in business or workplace may end up being permanent against your wish. Choose your temporary carefully!

We approach the temporary with a certain degree of carelessness because it is brief and will soon change. Decisions we take when we want to address a temporary finance issue, or a temporary health issue, or a temporary relationship issue, or a temporary management issue, these decisions can spin out of control and have permanent consequences. A renowned Kenyan writer and journalist told a friend that he was going into hospital for a small surgery that won’t last beyond an hour then he returns for a chat and drinking session. Complications occurred and he never returned, he died a few days later. It was supposed to be quick and brief, it became permanent and the end. Choose your temporary carefully!

There are people and even organizations who put up temporary structures as they wait to do permanent structures, and many years later they are still in those temporary structures. There are positions we fill temporarily that end up being permanent. There are people who become an acting officer for the rest of their lives. There are temporary camps for refugees or victims of war or floods or whatever, those camps started as temporary and now are permanent and are difficult to undo. Choose your temporary carefully!

May God grant us wisdom whenever we are tempted to be careless about what we think is brief and temporary. May we be reminded that not all that seems temporary and brief are what they seem to be. May we be ever prayerful and wise when dealing with what seems temporary as we have always done with the permanent, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

1. Rei Kesis YouTube Channel (subscribe, click on notification and share) –http://youtube.com/reikesis
2. Rei Kesis books on Amazon (Amazon will sell and deliver anywhere in the world. For those in Kenya you can buy from any ABC close to you. ABC is Adventist Book Center) –https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rei+kesis&ref=nb_sb_noss
3. Rei Kesis daily blog –https://reikesis.com/