Shortened get_the_content() with a passable character length variable. Defaults to 200 characters

the_short_content.php

function otm_short_content( $length = 200 ) {

	$content = strip_shortcodes( strip_tags( get_the_content(), '<p><h2><h3><h4>' ) );

	if ( strlen( $content ) > $length ){
		echo wpautop( substr( $content, 0, strpos( $content, ' ', $length ) ) . "..." );
	} else {
		echo wpautop( $content );
	}

}