We have to understand both dimensions of the redeemed heart to understand the grace of God in a more complete way. There is a greater capacity for sin in our hearts than we comprehend. No one fully grasps the depth of the wickedness within the human heart. We have many unperceived areas of sin that lie undetected below the surface like hidden fault lines. On the other hand, the grace of God has helped us in ways that we do not fully understand.   To understand that we are all dark, yet lovely is to recognize our weakness, which is comprised of our sinfulness, immaturity and natural limitations together with the revelation of our loveliness to Him (Psalm 86:1–2). Without this seed of this combined confession; we cannot continually progress in our pursuit of Love. We are far weaker than we realize and far lovelier than we realize yet even in our great weakness God possesses great delight in us. This is one of the most difficult tensions for a believer to bring together. Typically, we can understand one side of this paradox or the other, but we have difficulty grasping both of them together.   By knowing our darkness we fully receive and draw upon His strength. By nature, we so often want to be able to stand in our own resolution and commitments to the Lord. Yet God is committed to revealing the weakness of our flesh to us. He wants us to have a leaning heart at the end of the journey. He desires that we would not find our confidence in our commitment to Him but in His commitment to us.   By knowing our beauty to Him we are empowered to have confidence before God even when our sin and immaturity is revealed. We are the Lord’s creation, temples of the Holy Spirit, the salt and light of the world, image bearers of the all-perfected One Jesus Christ. Beyond even that we are God’s children and Jesus’ Bride and inheritance.   Our beauty before Him flows from a wellspring of sources. The first source is the very ocean of God’s personality. It is because of the heart of the Beholder that we are beautiful to God. His view of people flows out of the River of pleasures that abides in His own heart. Our loveliness before Him also streams from the glorious gift of righteousness that our beloved Jesus purchased for us in His death on the cross. By the labors of His soul and not by anything that we have done, He has wrapped us in His own beautiful garments. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).   The willing spirit He gave each one of us at the new birth is another reason for our loveliness before God. This is the “yes” in our spirit to be fully His even before we have changed anything outwardly. The Lord looks at the heart of man and perceives our movement toward Him before it is even externally evident.   Do not lose hope if you sincerely desire to obey the Lord yet constantly experience spiritual failure in a particular area. We all begin here. At first even in our sincerity, we are regularly defeated (Romans 7:15–25). But the fruit is still there, you are desiring to obey the Lord your God. This is evidence of God’s grace; it is a vital component of our spiritual victory.   We can be victorious on a regular basis while being continually at war with the flesh in a particular part of our life (Romans 8:2–13; Galatians 5:16–17). There are areas in our lives where the Lord literally changes our desires so substantially that the struggle for that area is not even there; spiritual victory without the constant struggle in a previous area of sin. What we all long for is to substantially subdue the flesh in this way (Romans 6:14–23).   When the enemy comes to you with accusation regarding your weakness or immaturity, respond with the truth of Jesus’ delight in you. That “Even in my weakness he has loved me.” When the enemy comes to deceive you into taking pride in your beauty or strength, respond with the vivid remembrance of your weakness, "Even in my weakness he has loved me."   Our loveliness protects us from shame and condemnation and our weakness keeps us from pride and arrogance. Together they enable us to wholeheartedly abandon ourselves in love,  living confident before Him.