Fully Alive by Ken Davis is a pointed look at living life to the fullest, a journey to not succumb to the temptation to give up on life. One of the goals of the book is to recognize the obstacles any person faces in life and to face them head on by examining what these obstacles are and to provide steps to get past them (36). Although this was helpful if you are not aware of your obstacles, the most helpful part of the book was the section becoming fully alive physically.
Davis does not approach the issue of weight and health from a do this and you will lose weight mentality. Rather, he focuses in on the fact that being healthy allows for you to more fully glorify God and be full alive about all of life (40). More than this, if our goal is to get to a certain size, we are making a goal that is too small, for after we accomplish that goal there is nothing else. Instead, learning to be committed daily to live fully to God's glory, we can become healthy in a long term sense. I think the encouragement here is that learning to live a healthy lifestyle impacts every area of life from parenting to marriage, friendships to work. There is a close connection here between the being physically fit and mentally sound that is also a great help. By telling his story, Ken encourages his readers to get up and move, make exercise a priority everyday. His good words here are important because he does not limit exercise to one or two activities, but pushes his readers to find ways in which they are doing heavy breathing (walking, raquetball to name a few).
Davis is certain to remind his readers that fear can only be countered by a confidence in God and in Christ that nothing will separate us from Him. Citing 1 Corinthians 15, Ken mentions that the death and resurrection of Christ is enough to cast off the fear that often rules our lives. Reminding us that he used to walk in fear, Ken calls his readers to risk their lives because ultimately they will never be cast off by God, but be held by Christ. I think this teaching is not easy to pass along considering that often we see fear as providing a protection of our worst nightmares or our past experiences. Yet, fear has a way of strangling our hands and quenching our spirit, rather than freeing us up to action for the Lord.
The chapter on What's Love Got to Do With It is very good and hints at the expression of love through God's love for his own people. Davis points out that being in the image of God means that we desire to be loved and to love.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Book Sneeze for the review copy of this book in exchange for review.
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