SUNDAY (LIVE) - May 10, 2026 | The Grind: Ecclesiastes 5:8 - 6:12 - Bridge to Nowhere

When you understand what God has given you, when you realize it is a gift, what happens from that is you get given joy. Well, why does gratitude lead to joy? It's called positive interpretation bias. Life is not 100% good. Life is not 100% bad. We read chapter three, which is there's a time for everything. There's a time for good things, bad things. Hard things, easy things. Lovely things, unlovely things. There's a time for everything. And when you realize that, you start to be grateful, what happens is you get joy. [01:18:10] (47 seconds)  #GratitudeEqualsJoy

There's this classic tale told about building of the Westminster Abbey. Beautiful stone building. Been there for centuries. And they talked to three masons. The first mason, they said, hey, what are you doing? He said, I'm cutting stone. Second mason, hey, what are you doing? I'm making a living. The third mason, hey, what are you doing? I'm building a cathedral for the glory of God and the joy of his people that will stand for centuries. Which guy enjoys his work more? It's figure out how to rejoice in your toil. How to love it. [01:11:07] (37 seconds)  #LoveYourWork

But I do think we've lost something. There was a culture in church for a long time that was Sundays would be meals with other people, family and friends getting together, feasting and joy. It was Solomon. I think it's something that we've lost. Jesus was constantly eating meals with people, often the wrong people. I think we need to recover that. Today, have a good meal. What an excuse you've got. Mother's Day. Celebrate. Celebrate. Feast. [01:08:58] (32 seconds)  #RecoverCommunalMeals

Listen to me carefully. Success and enjoyment are not the same thing. We have been trained since we went to school, in kindergarten, that if you're successful, then you're gonna be happy. They're not the same thing. Success and enjoyment are not the same thing. It is the greatest Ponzi scheme ever. It's a mirage. It just keeps moving out, moving out, moving out. [00:59:20] (23 seconds)  #SuccessIsNotHappiness

Better is the sight of the eyes. It means what's right in front of you right now. Better is the sight of the eyes, what's right in front of you right now, than the wandering of the appetites. You're gonna have appetites. You're gonna try to build bridges everywhere, always out there doing this, that thing. You know what's best? Solomon says, what's right in front of you right now. [01:00:35] (20 seconds)  #LiveInTheMoment

It's the missing missing tile syndrome. And you're a beautiful young lady. What are you doing? It's like a part time job obsessing about something that's stupid. Bloom where you're planted. Understand how God has designed you. That he has good works for you, prepared in advance, just for you. Fearfully, wonderfully made. And then lastly, Shalom. Three times, Solomon says this, given. It was given by God. Given by God. Verse 19, this is a gift of God. And once you get this, you'll be occupied with joy. No better occupation than that. [01:17:26] (44 seconds)  #BloomWherePlanted

Think back a year ago. Where are you at? Right. I'm in my shop. Yeah. You're in your shop. That's positive interpretation. Bias. Are you kidding me? I've got a shop. Wow. I got a shop. Praise God. That's what life's supposed to be. James one seventeen, every good and every perfect gift comes down from above. Psalm 34 verse 10, those that seek the Lord will lack no good thing. Psalm eighty four eleven, no good thing will the lord withhold from those who do what is right. [01:19:26] (42 seconds)  #CountYourBlessings

That's affluenza, right there. It is acquisition without any satisfaction. And Solomon says there's two problems with that. Number one is this, more money, more problems. The more money you have, the more mouths there are to feed. Now, it doesn't help that Solomon was getting married every fifteen minutes. Yeah. You got a thousand wives, bro. That's a lot. I don't know how many kids you have, but you probably got a lot of kids too. [00:51:26] (27 seconds)  #BewareAffluenza

This learning to enjoy your toil is a life skill that will pay you forty hours a week for your entire life. It's the best life skill in the world. It's a life skill. Or I'm gonna figure out how to find real joy in my toil. Then, thirdly, he just says, relax. Relax. Twice he says, this is your lot. Verse 18, for this is your lot. [01:12:40] (31 seconds)  #EnjoyYourToil

For three point seven days, I'm like, if only Elijah was faster, I'd have so much fun. That appetite out there, if only. Better is the side of the eyes. Better is, right now, I'm with my son. How much better could it be? It can't be better. This is the best right now. So much of life is building bridges to nowhere. This is a gift Solomon's giving us right here. [01:02:39] (24 seconds)  #BestIsRightNow

You're not gonna find the good life in the government. And this is king Solomon who's writing this. He is the government at the time. He's like, I'm not the answer. Do not be shocked by bad government. And I know that you're not if you're here because if you were shocked by bad government, you would have moved to Tennessee like everyone else. So I get it. We all understand this. [00:42:35] (29 seconds)  #GoodLifeNotGovernment

People thought that thought thought for sure, man, I'm gonna retire in a decade or two. I'm gonna get the house on the golf course. It's gonna be awesome. I guarantee you that there are people that worked at Enron that thought they were secure, that now have part time jobs at a fast food restaurant to make ends meet. So the one thing we think money is gonna do for us, it can't do it. [00:54:06] (21 seconds)  #MoneyDoesntGuaranteeRetirement

But the second one he says is this, insecurity. Money cannot purchase you security. Money is always saying, bye bye. There's two ways to put bye bye. We think if I have this amount of money, I'm secure. And Solomon says, there's a guy that lost it all. Anybody in here know a rich person that went bankrupt? [00:52:42] (33 seconds)  #MoneyCantBuySecurity

The entire rant is Solomon saying, what's the good life? How do you know the good life? If I was to ask you that, what's the good life? If you're like, write down, this is the good life, what would it be? Maybe for young people, it'd be to be famous on YouTube. 10,000 followers on TikTok or 10,000,000 followers on TikTok. Maybe it's that. Maybe if you're at the other end, it's finally retiring from your job. That will be it. [00:40:31] (36 seconds)  #DefineYourGoodLife

Bucket list won't get it for you. So if we could go back three thousand years, the guy that Solomon describes right here, he has it all. Bucket list checked off. Money, checked. Stuff, checked. Honor, checked. Kids, he's got a 100 kids. So if you go back three thousand years, like, that meant God loved you. The more kids you had, that meant God loved you. He has got a 100 kids. He is stoked. [00:57:39] (35 seconds)  #BucketListIsntEnough

We work, we toil, we try to get this thing, and we end up here's what we do, we build bridges to nowhere. Do all this work, all this effort, and then boom, the goal changes. You ever seen the bridge to nowhere? I'll show you a picture of it. That's it right there. Whoops. That's a bummer. [00:59:44] (21 seconds)  #BridgesToNowhere

And this guy, because of it, because of his wealth, he can't sleep. Maybe it's worry. Maybe it's anxiety. Maybe he wakes up at night with his mind just spinning about this idea or that idea. Maybe it's the fact that three thousand years ago, if you're really rich, you didn't exercise. And we know how healthy exercise is to sleep. Maybe it is his diet. He talks about just his stomach not hurting or not being right, keeping him up. [00:52:01] (28 seconds)  #WealthCanStealSleep

Like, we had this family friend that that they own this beautiful home in Carmel. Just unbelievable. Worth millions and millions of dollars. They lost it all. Super sad. They're looking to rent houses now. Do do you know anyone that went bankrupt? The economy changes. There's a war in Iran. Ask Spirit Airlines how the war in Iran affected them. Can't afford fuel anymore. We're bankrupt. [00:53:15] (27 seconds)  #WealthCanCollapse

Most Americans would give up nearly their entire paycheck for peace of mind, security. Just to know, I'm secure. The one thing money cannot buy you, I don't care how much you have it, can't buy it. Richer, more powerful people have fallen deeper than any one of us. And remember, it's not money that's the problem. Psalm begins with, he who loves money. Money's not the problem. [00:54:53] (31 seconds)  #PeaceNotPaycheck

I counsel people this, like, hey, if you're gonna change jobs, change jobs when you love the one you have. When you've figured out how to love the job you're in right now, no matter what it is, when you've figured out how to enjoy it, that's the time to change your occupation. Before that, you're just gonna be bitter and angry. You're gonna make a bad choice. Someone's like, figure out how to enjoy your job. Mike Rowe has this great TED talk. He's the dirty jobs guy. He's awesome. He's fun. And he says this, the worst piece of advice he ever heard was find a job you're passionate about. [01:09:57] (35 seconds)  #ChangeJobsWisely