The closing verses of Ecclesiastes 6 provide the reader with a great opportunity to consider not only what is to come in the book, but also what the first half of the book have taught about our search for meaning and God's answers.

While it may seem to be an obscure or possibly irrelevant passage, the story of Micah and the Levite is an important reminder for us that God's word should direct us in all things, and not our desires for comfort and control.

What is to be a Christian's relationship to the world? Jesus calls his followers to be salt and light in a word needing the savor of grace, a world lost in the darkness of sin.

In observing the disastrous effects of greed, the Teacher in Ecclesiastes warns his listeners about the pointless of greed, and in connection with greed, the pointless of wealth.

Far from being an Old Testament relic, the fear of God is an essential part of a disciple's life, since it helps us guard our steps as we come to God in worship.

To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray with his heart for all people, to pray without prejudice for whoever who would come to be freed by his ransom.

Paul's prayer for the Colossians is a beautiful example of the kind of 'big' prayer that we should be praying consistently for one another, a prayer we can only pray in Jesus' name.

To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray, through God's Spirit, to God as "Abba, Father", coming to him in the love and trust that title makes possible.

To pray in Jesus' name is to approach God in the confidence that the justifying work of the Cross makes possible.

As the Teacher in Ecclesiastes considers the problems with human labor, we are forced to ask not only, "Why do we work?", but more importantly, "For whom do we work?"