7 Billion Neighbors

The United Nations estimates that sometime this week, probably on Halloween, the world's population will reach seven billion people. Now, THAT'S scary! It makes you stop and think. The God of all creation, the God of 7 BILLION people, is also the God who cares for each and every one of us individually. That makes me grateful.
Gratitude is a big word for a little concept that makes a big change in the way we see life. Jesus tells a story about gratitude. Luke 17:12-19 "As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance,  crying out, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' He looked at them and said, 'Go show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, 'Praise God!' He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, 'Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?' And Jesus said to the man, 'Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.'"
The man's leprosy was already gone. So why did Jesus say "Your faith has healed you"? I have a feeling it's because there's more to the man than his physical illness. His praise of Christ showed a healing of a different type. An emotional, spiritual healing exemplified in a life lived in gratitude. There's a saying I find helpful in my times of trial and healing - You can get bitter or you can get better. Perhaps this leper had already begun the process of healing by working on his attitude while he was yet suffering from the dreaded disease. We don't know. All we DO know is that he found in his cleansing a cause to celebrate and praise God. Nine others did not. A tithe of those healed returned thanks for the gift they received.
As we enter one of the most materialistic times of our cultural year, let us remember first to say thanks. Thanks that though we are but one in a billion, God loves us still. Thanks that He came to bring Good News to the last, the least, the lost. Thanks that we are forgiven and can forgive. Thanks that we are loved and can love. Thanks for who we are and whose we are. And let us give God the glory.