Thanksgiving Day holiday in the United States was set aside as a day of thanksgiving to God for all of the blessings of the new land experienced by the pilgrims who settled here. Unfortunately, to many, Thanksgiving is merely a day of turkey dinner and football. Many even refer to the day as "Turkey Day."

The main difference between the original purpose of this day and what it means to many today is whether or not God is recognized as the source of our blessings and the focal point of the day.

According to 2 Timothy 3:2, one of the characteristics of the end time is that people will be unthankful, "For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy…." This, coupled with the fact of being "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (verse 4)."

What has been the result of unthankfulness to God?

Notice what the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:18-32 (New Living Translation):

18. But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

21. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. 25. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! 26. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

That’s a pretty good commentary on the world today and how it got to be that way—namely refusing to acknowledge and thank God.

As Christians, we can and should use this day to thank God for all of His blessings and teach our children the historical legacy of this day.