When the Teacher tells his listeners that a funeral is better than a party, he is calling them to be 'sobered up' by the reality of death and suffering, from a drunkeness fueled by distraction and diversion.
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.
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.