Faithful Fitness
A Forty-Day Devotional for Health, Strength, and Stewardship
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Day 21 – Your True Potential // GROWTH
Passage: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.”
--Luke 12:48 CSB
Meditation: In the gospel of Luke , Jesus tells a story (often called the parable of the pounds) about a master and his servants.
The master entrusts each one with some resources with which to go and do good work – an opportunity to multiply the blessings of the master by using them well until he returns.
Matthew’s version of the parable includes two striking differences: he uses the word ‘talents’ (suggesting innate abilities), and he notes unequal distribution of resources.
Regardless of the particulars of the teaching, the message is the same.
Growth is good. Growth is possible. Growth is expected.
Growth is required.
God gave you a body and mind. Like talents (or pounds), your physical resources have the innate potential to be put to good use and grow as a result.
Science teaches that when the body and mind are exposed to the right amount of adaptive stress—and allowed to recover with good nutrition and rest—they rebuild stronger, smarter, and more capable. This is GROWTH.
Your mind and body also have the potential to stagnate and depreciate. In fact, in the fallen world we live in governed by entropy, the default mode isn’t to stay the same – like talents, pounds (or dollars) buried in the backyard –
Decline is inevitable in a fallen world unless we take action.
So take stock of you.
Count your blessings. Are you blessed beyond what you deserve? Have you been given “much”?
Whether you look around and see the Matthew version (servants ranging from the richly talented to the barely talented) or the Luke version (stewards all given the same measure of resources to start with) of Jesus’s parable, the truth is this:
If you’re not making an active effort to make the most of what the master has given you – pursuing growth in your mind and body – you are like the servants who failed to grow and lost everything for their lack of initiative, courage, and diligence.
The time to grow is now. Don’t wait.
Abundant and eternal life was purchased for you at a high price – the blood of Christ.
You’ve been given much. Make the most of it.
Much is required.
Discipline: The discipline of Growth requires that you apply “adaptive stressors” to your body and mind regularly. Resistance training is a powerful way to challenge (stress) your mind and muscles in a controllable, consistent, and progressive manner. In the coming 10 days, make it a goal to complete at least 3 days of resistance training for a minimum of 20 minutes. It’s time to GROW
Prayer: Father in heaven, you have been so good to me. Thank you for all you’ve given me. You have entrusted me with so much. Forgive me for the opportunities to grow that I’ve missed due to fear, laziness, and all of the excuses you know I could generate right now. Forgive me, also, for the many, many blessings that surround my life and circumstances that I take for granted because I do not have eyes to see. Thank you for my body. Thank you for my mind. I want to be a good steward of both of these resources. I want to be faithful with them every day until you return. Holy spirit, give me eyes to see the measure of potential with which my Lord has entrusted me. Create in me an urgency to grow. Teach me to face new challenges with courage and wisdom. The time is short. And I can feel it in my spirit that you are not done with me, yet. Jesus, I know you will be faithful to complete the good work you have started in me. Make me faithful even when I am afraid, tired, or in pain. Let me see the growth that you are manifesting in me. As I get stronger, more capable, and altogether more than I am now, let there be no pride or vanity in me. I want to be everything you made me to be in grace, humility, and truth. Multiply, Lord, in every area you have blessed me so that I may hear at the end of this journey – “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful in little, you will be given much”. In Jesus name, Amen.
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About the Book
“Your body was never meant to compete with your faith—it was meant to express it.” In a world of quick fixes and hollow fitness fads, Faithful Fitness offers something eternal— a forty-day journey that connects the care of your body with the calling of your soul. Coach Alex VanHouten invites you to discover how physical fitness, nutrition, fasting, and daily discipline can become acts of worship, grounded in the Word of God. This devotional doesn’t separate faith and fitness—it integrates them, helping believers live stronger, more resilient lives for the glory of God. Each day delivers a powerful Scripture, a practical application, and a call to action that equips you to train your body, renew your mind, and steward your health with spiritual purpose. Whether you’re battling chronic illness, beginning to focus on your health, or looking to bring your training to the next level, this devotional guides you through on the path to grow stronger, one percent better every day. Built on the foundational disciplines of integrity, grit, growth, and awe, this book will help you replace laziness with purpose, comfort with courage, and shame with strength.
About the Author
Coach Alex VanHouten is an exercise scientist, Christian health coach, and host of the Faithful Fitness Podcast. With over two decades of experience, he equips believers to make the most of their God-given bodies with wisdom, discipline, and faith—integrating sound physiology with biblical truth for lasting, embodied transformation.