2Sa 12:4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

David’s sin displeased the LORD. The LORD sent Nathan to David. Nathan told David a story of a wicked rich man who had many lambs and a poor man who had only one ewe lamb which was dear to him as a daughter. One day, the rich man had a guest in his house. Instead of taking one of his many lambs to entertain his guest, he stole from the poor man and took his one and only lamb to entertain his guest. David was exceeding angry when he heard the story and immediately pronounced a judgment of death on the rich man. Nathan thereupon revealed the parabolic character of his narrative by saying unto David: "Thou art the man!" (v.7). David’s self-righteous attitude reminds us of the words of our Lord Jesus: “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:3). A mote is a splinter from a piece of wood; a beam is a huge log. David’s was the rich man in the story. David had many wives. Uriah had only one. Yet, David stole the wife of Uriah and made her his own. And David did far worse than the rich man in the parable – David murdered Uriah while the rich man in the parable did not kill the poor man. Yet, David pronounced death on the rich man. David saw the “small” sin of another but did not see the “big” sin in himself. But today, I’m not focusing on self-righteous judgment. What caught my attention is verse 4: “And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.” Will we do what the rich man did? Of course we say we will never do such a thing. What the rich man did was stealing. What he did was also SELFISHNESS. You ask: What is selfishness? "Selfishness" means to act by the principle by which your actions are directed to benefit you, to make you happy. In a nutshell, “selfishness” is all about pleasing self. Human beings are very selfish by nature. The difference is in the degree of selfishness; some are more selfish than others. Reserving four seats in an eating outlet for friends who are queuing for half an hour for their food is selfishness. Piling your plate with food in a buffet while there are so many others who have not eaten is selfishness. But we don’t have to remain that way! The Christian way is: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4, ESV). It means: Be considerate! The Scripture instructs us that whenever we come together we are to “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Hebrews 10:24). We provoke one another unto love when we do things that promote love. Conversely, we show inconsiderate behaviour for our brethren when we do things that stumble them. For example, selfishness is when you see a brother overburden with the work of the Lord while you are not doing anything to help. Selfishness is when you are glued to your favourite seat when you see a visitor looking for one. Selfishness is when it is in your power to help ferry an aged brother/sister to church but choose not to do it. Considerate actions promote love and good works. A new convert who sees you doing good works is encouraged to do too. Selfish persons do not walk in love. The rich man in the parable was not walking in love towards his poor neighbour. Let us consider one another and walk in love.