Bottom line up front: Gratitude Reveals Our Theology

This week, the U.S. Senate voted on Monday 10 November 2025 to end the shutdown. The U.S. House voted on Wednesday 12 November to do the same, and the POTUS signed the bill to end the government shutdown and fund the government through 30 January 2026. In the interim, the hope is that a deal will be forthcoming that sustains the funding of the U.S. government and its employees. 

I don’t know when we federal employees will see our first check in over a month-and-a half, but I am grateful that at least some steps have been taken to get things going again. When one has skin in the game, it’s less easy to be glib or sanctimonious. Things get “real” quickly when the money tap gets turned off. 

Segue: This whole shutdown thing and now the glimmer of hope that the government may reopen soon, and that we federal employees will be paid again, etc. got me thinking a great deal about gratitude vs. ingratitude. Being thankful vs. being ungrateful. Thanksgiving vs. lack of thanksgiving, if you will. 

There’s a passage in Luke’s gospel where the Lord Jesus heals ten lepers after they cried out to him in petition: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Lk 17:13).

Jesus healed all ten. All ten. Let that sink in. Do we in 21st century America know what it must’ve been like to be healed of leprosy in 1st century Israel? I don’t think most of us do. Why? Well, that was so then, as the kids might say. But Jesus healed all ten. 

And this is where I want to focus. Guess how many of the ten healed showed gratitude? One. “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks” (Lk 17:15-16). One out of ten. That should break our hearts. 

Encouragement: Our gratitude (or lack of it) reveals our theology, doesn’t it? One of those former leprous men went back to thank the Lord. To do what? To render thanks (Lk 17:16). In my little slice of life, there’s a glimmer of hope I’ll be paid again, along with thousands of my peers who likewise serve our nation. And I’m rendering thanks even now. Why? Because I know the God who is sovereign over this government and all governments, the One who knows the end from the beginning. And I am grateful.