When my children were little they were always competing to be first. Adults aren’t much different, whatever the nationality. Indians are the same, racing with each other to outdo everyone else. Pastors want to be the first to have me come to their church, the first to pray or sing, the first to have their picture taken with us. We may not realize that the nation of India has many firsts to its credit.
The Indus Valley Civilization is the world’s oldest developed civilization. Its early empire was larger than any other empire of its time, including Egypt and Mesopotamia. Thus India is the oldest, most advanced and longest continuous civilization. Varanasi is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world today.
India was the first country to develop extraction and purifying techniques of sugar. Many visitors from abroad learnt the refining and cultivation of sugar from India. And they were the first to discover water on the moon
Diamonds were first mined in India. Initially, diamonds were only found in the alluvial deposits in Guntur and Krishna District of the Krishna River Delta. Until diamonds were found in Brazil during the 18th century, India led the world in diamond production.
The earliest cotton in the world was spun and woven in India. Roman emperors would wear delicate cotton from India that they would call “woven winds.” Mogul emperors called the fabrics “morning dew” and “cloth of running water.”
If being the first is important, then the honor of being the first of all firsts is really significant. Jesus was first of all creation. He was before creation and reigns as First over everyone and everything in the universe. Where He most wants to be first, though, is in your heart. Does He have first place in your life? Does everyone who knows you know He is first?
Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Revelation 1:8 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
What can you do today to show that He is in first place in your life?
Where do you have the hardest time keeping Him first? Is there a sin, a fear, a distraction, even something good taken to excess, which comes before Him in any way? Confess it and make Him first over every area of your life right now.