The song's theme centers on the singer and his generation's inaction in regard to current world conditions.

However, he attributes this inaction to a lack of power: Now we see everything that's going wrongWith the world and those who lead itWe just feel like we don't have the meansTo rise above and beat itHe also laments the corruption among leaders: It's not that we don't care,We just know that the fight ain't fairJohn Mayer confirmed this feeling of discontent between the leaders and that led to an interview with The Advocate, explaining the song this way: "It's saying, 'Well, I'll just watch American Idol because I know that if I were engaged in changing anything for the better, or the better as I see it, it would go unnoticed or be completely ineffective.'

"[2] Even so, the song alludes to hope for the future, with the singer intoning that with his generation's ascension to power, things will change: One day our generationIs gonna rule the populationSo we keep on waitingWaiting on the world to changePolitics was a topic that Mayer had not previously tackled.

"[3] The music video for the song was directed by Philip Andelman and features Mayer walking along the East River while commissioned graffiti artists Futura, Tats Cru, and Daze spray paint messages relating to the song's content on New York City billboards.

An acoustic studio version of "Good Love Is on the Way" is also available on Mayer's EP entitled The Village Sessions, released on December 12, 2006 ("The Village Sessions" EP also contains the aforementioned Ben Harper acoustic version of "Waiting On The World to Change").

Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times called the song "a lovely and anger-free ode to a vaguely dissatisfied generation,"[6] while Matt Collar with AMG wrote that "Nobody — not a single one of Mayer's contemporaries — has come up with anything resembling a worthwhile anti-war anthem that is as good and speaks for their generation as much as his 'Waiting on the World to Change'".

[8] Other reviewers commented on his progression as an artist; Tony Pascarella found the song "gives listeners, both old and new, an idea of how far Mayer has come.

It advocates a passive approach, whereas the song it most closely resembles --- Curtis Mayfield's classic "People Get Ready" --- urges everyone to get involved, or risk being left behind".