First and foremost, I love to see the translated work of an excellent Korean Christian pastor and leader. Even when treading over familiar ground, as this book does, church leaders and theologians from other parts of the world will approach God's truth from a different cultural and sociological perspective. They can often expose blind spots in our own Western Christian worldviews. We need more works like this, not only from Korea but from China, Africa, Latin America, and those other places where the church is growing to be translated into English.

in Great to Good, Pastor Jae Hoon Lee writes a series of short chapters that skirt the line between devotional and essay. The overriding theme that runs through all of them is that we, the church, should not necessarily strive for a worldly perspective of "greatness" but rather for integrity and "goodness."

Some quotes:
The difference between an event and a movement is sacrifice.

Only when we are willing to lay down our lives for the sake of our neighbors will we see a holy movement in the world.

In the New Testament, the term Christian appears merely three times, whereas the word disciple appears 269 times. Christian is not our self-designated name; it is a name bestowed on those who live as disciples of Christ.

No matter how much or how rapidly culture changes, the church is designed to prevail. Yet with each culture shift, it is painfully obvious that the church has become an institution rather than a movement. The distinction lies in the fact that institutions preserve culture while movements create culture. Many times those who attempt to preserve a dissipating culture will also join in its ignoble demise.

Truth cannot be divided into public and private sectors. Truth must be accepted in all areas and recognized as authoritative in any domain.

God does not tell us in advance about future events because if we knew our successes, we would become lazy, and conversely, if we knew our failures, we would become disappointed and despondent.

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

#GreattoGood #NetGalley.

"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!