Luke 23.49 observes, Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching.

A lot of people are standing from a distance watching for God to do something.

Sometimes we are waiting for Him to rain hell fire upon our enemies because we know how much they deserve it. Sometimes we are waiting for Him to heal us or our friends because we know how much He cares for us. Sometimes we are waiting for Him to bless us because we know how much He loves us. We wait, we hope but…..

God does do much in the world. He takes initiative toward all of His endeavors. He so loved the world that He sent His only Son. While God initiates and often facilitates His plans, He requires that we participate to complete them.

God so loved the world that He sent His Son but a teenage couple had to be willing to carry and raise Him in the middle of shame and scorn. Jesus died on the cross to make peace with God for all humanity but the Church is commissioned to go into all the world and make disciples. God has always been at work for the welfare of the world but has required humanity to partner with Him in completing that work.

After creating paradise Adam was formed to care for it. After choosing Noah and his family to repopulate the world, Noah had to build a boat to preserve his family from the flood. After choosing Abraham to be the father of God’s holy people, Abraham and Sarah had to come together to create a son and raise him to continue pursuing God’s promise. After choosing Mary to mother the Son, she had to labor for His arrival. After choosing the twelve to be His disciples, they had to go into all the world and make disciples to keep the mission alive.

We are next in line. The baton of God’s plan is in our hands. We must stop watching from a distance waiting for God to do something. He has already initiated the work we are to do when He lived among us as one of us. Now we must engage. We must serve people as He served and share hope as He shared about the kingdom to come.

The world wont get better until the people of God work harder at making it so.