First Sunday of Lent (Heb. 11:24–26, 32–12:2; Jn. 1:43–51)

Orthodoxy. Do not forget the right word you spoke to God when you renewed with Him the covenant that you had broken on your part in bad faith. Recall how and why you broke it, and strive to avoid new unfaithfulness. It is not fine words that are glorious—faithfulness is glorious. Is it not an honor to be in covenant with a king? How much more honorable to be in covenant with the King of kings! But that honor will turn to shame if you are not faithful to the covenant. From the beginning of the world, how many great people have been glorified! And all of them were glorified for the faithfulness they maintained despite great trials and sorrows on account of that faithfulness: ”they experienced mockings and scourgings, and also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawn in two, tempted, slain with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth… therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, …let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith…” (Heb. 11:36–38; 12:1–2).