Neither sink into despair nor grow presumptuous

Faced with your faults, you can fall into two opposite traps. One is despair: "I am a disaster, there is no fixing this," as if your misery were stronger than God's mercy. The other is becoming presumptuous: "God forgives anyway," and dropping your arms without any intention of changing. Christian hope avoids both. Your sin does not drown you, because God always lifts you up if you return; nor does it make you complacent, because his forgiveness asks on your part for a genuine desire to improve. It is a healthy balance: you trust God completely and at the same time take your struggle seriously. Neither defeatism nor spiritual laziness. To hope is to count on him without failing to do your part.