Eventually...

is a sure thing with God

"0 - 60...Eventually." I read the message on the bumper sticker of the car just in front of me at a stop sign. And laughed. I know that "0-60" speed is a thing with cars—and car buyers. The smaller the number, the better the car's performance. But this car was making no promises. (At least not promises meant to impress.) "I'll get where I'm going eventually," it seemed to advise. And as subtext: "So if you're behind me, don't be in a rush."

I don't see much enthusiasm for "eventually" anymore. Hardly anyone gets excited about "one day, by and by." And truthfully, neither do I. If I want something, I want it sooner, not later. If I long for a thing, I don't delight to wait for it indefinitely. "In a little while" doesn't seem much better to me than "someday." Vagaries don't cut it for most of us. We want to know when.

God, I've come to understand, doesn't always share my sense of urgency. And as near as I can tell, His promises to me do not come with firm delivery dates or even virtual tracking to trace their progress. But with Him, "eventually" is utterly certain. If “He says a thing will happen, it will. "He is never late," a friend of mine used to say with her characteristic giggle, "but He has missed numerous good opportunities to be early." Time to God is not like time to me. He has eternity to make it all come out right. And He will. Eventually.

Eventually…the lion will lie down with the lamb.

Eventually…our weapons of war will become farm tools.

Eventually…there will be no more crying or pain or tears.

Eventually…sickness and death will hardly be a memory.

Eventually…those who follow Him to the end will hear Him say "Well done."

Eventually…we will see Him face to face.

We'll survive our "eventually’s" you and I. And be satisfied in Him forever. Maybe we'll even ask one another what "eventually" means—and why its uncertainty troubled us onc e upon a time!

But you should never lose sight of this fact, dear friends, that time is not the same with the Lord as it is with us--to him a day may be a thousand years, and a thousand years only a day. It is not that he is dilatory about keeping his own promise as some men seem to think; the fact is that he is very patient towards you. He has no wish that any man should be destroyed. He wishes that all men should come to repent.

2 Peter 3:8-10, Phillips