Selwyn now looks another pair of opposite virtues: ‘a pair of opposites which if not balanced can cause us a grest deal of diffculty in life; self-concern and concern for others. … (Many) either focus on the spiritual life of others and pay no attention to themselves, or they pay attention to themselves and have no concerns for others.’
Not too sure about Selwyn’s use of Revelation 4:6; and to be honest nothing really stood out for me, in the rest of the study.
If, we allow our lives to be guided by the Holy Spirit and our highest priority is the love of our God and the love of our ‘neighbour’, that is, ‘everyone’; then we should totally depend upon His love. Consequently, if we go out of balance in areas such as the one being discussed by Selwyn – then we can trust that the Holy Spirit will – in one way, or another, bring the issue to our attention.
God did not leave David in his sinful blindness; instead He sent Nathan to open David’s eyes, in 2 Samuel 12 (NIV), we read: ” … David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! … Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! … Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? … Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
If you have given your heart to Him - you can trust that He loves you in the same way that He loves David. [The tense of the word 'love', is deliberate - this time. :) ] Jesus will open your eyes, by some perfect means, if you find yourself in a similar situation; yet, you should be talking to Him and listening, for His words; which can be delivered by a variety of means, including by your own ‘Nathan’. Do you agree?
Sure, sometimes the Lord will open our eyes even when we aren’t listening very closely. That is often a painful experience. However, we do have a responsibility to ” be talking to Him and listening, for His words;” I’m amazed at how “out of focus” to borrow from your Optician imagery, that I can become despite the profound affect that the Lord has had on my life. Just shows how desperately we need a Savior. Even David stumbled in some of the most ugly ways.