Stewardship and Thankfulness (Matthew Henry on Genesis 8:20)

"And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." (Gen. 8:20)

"He offered only those that were clean; for it is not enough the we sacrifice, but we must sacrifice that which God appoints, according to the law of sacrifice, and not a corrupt thing.  Though his stock of cattle was so small, and that rescued from ruin at so great an expense of care and pains, yet he did not grudge to give God his dues out of it.  He might have said, "Have I but seven sheep to begin the world with, and must one of the seven be killed and burnt for sacrifice?  Were it not better to defer it till we have greater plenty?"  No, to prove the sincerity of his love and gratitude, he cheerfully gives the seventh to his God, as an acknowledgment that all was his, and owing to him.  Serving God with our little is the way to make it more; and we must never think that wasted with which God is honored...We are now to express our thankfulness, not by burnt offerings, but by the sacrifices of praise and the sacrifices of righteousness, by pious devotions, and a pious conversation."