Christians know a secret about generosity. Generosity is not the fruit of success or happiness or security. It is, instead, the source of all these things. Actually, it’s not only Christians who know this. Seth Godin, one of my favorite thinkers, puts it this way: Here’s conventional wisdom: Success makes you happy. Happiness permits you to be generous. In fact, it actually works like this: Generosity makes you happy. Happy people are more likely to be successful. Christians have sometimes named the “conventional” wisdom Godin talks about “worldly” wisdom, as it expresses the sensibilities that governs the world rather than...

We tend to do a fair amount of our grocery shopping at Whole Foods. (Yes, I know the jokes about “whole paycheck,” but we’re loyal.) One of things I’ve noticed about shopping there is that whenever I can’t find something and ask for help, the employee I ask stops whatever he or she is doing to take me to the item I’m looking for. And this happens even when I say that I can find it on my own if they just tell me the isle. But they insist. Actually, they don’t insist or make a big deal of it. They just take me there. It’s clear this isn’t by accident, as this happens every single time. (And, yes, I seem to have a hard time...