Great to Good: How Following Jesus Reshapes Our Ambitions by, Jae Hoon Lee

The premise of this book is a wonderful upside-down principle. As Christians rather than working on going from good to great with an intense focus on ourselves as a popular leadership book espouses we learn that God’s own should focus on letting go of Great in a self-focused wad and learn to do and be good as Jesus defines it. I found the Korean perspective and the opportunity to hear from a very different voice to be quite refreshing and enlightening. I definitely recommend this

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"Great to Good: How Following Jesus Reshapes Our Ambitions" by Jae Hoon Lee is an inspiring book that challenges modern Christians to focus on embodying the goodness of Christ rather than striving for worldly greatness. Lee's thought-provoking reflections, rooted in biblical teachings and the example of the Korean church, emphasize humility, service, and genuine faith. This book is perfect for Christians seeking to deepen their spiritual journey and align their ambitions with Christ's teachings. I highly recommend "Great to Good" for anyone looking to transform their life through a Christ-centered perspective.

So you're ambitious. Type A (or B or C?) You have high expectations. You want to be perfect. And you expect the same of others.
Here's a reality check - and the encouragement to live day by day in God's favor.

How can you become who you are designed to be, without unrealistic expectations of yourself and others? How do you fulfill your purpose without crashing and burning?

There's great encouragement from Lee - read it and you'll be set to enjoy the journey of faith, even while you let God take you to paths beyond your dreams and ambitions.

Let me first say that I was thrilled to see a Christian nonfiction book translated from Korean. I’d love to see more translated Christian works in general, since English-speaking, Western countries definitely don’t comprise the majority of the Christian world. And there’s a lot to love about this book! It provided an interesting peek into life in Korea, and spotlighted some Korean heroes of the faith who I hadn’t heard about from the Western media. The best parts of the book lovingly challenge Christians to do more to help the poor and oppressed.

This book is laid out as a series of devotional-like essays, each calling on the church to turn away from seeking acclaim and toward the truth of Jesus. The author makes it a specific point to distinguish between unchanging truths and cultural values, and emphasizes that decisions should be based on the former. That’s why it’s so perplexing that he goes on to speak about his opinions on specific cultural talking points - like prayer in schools and abortion legislation - as though they belong in the unchanging truth category. These are issues with a lot of nuance about which faithful Christians can honestly disagree, and it doesn’t make sense to represent certain stances on them as unquestionably good or bad. This made me look at the theological content of this book with a more skeptical eye (although much of it was in fact quite good!) While I’m unable to recommend this particular book, I’m definitely eager to see more translated works from pastors in different parts of the world — especially Asia and Africa!