What binds us to God?

Everyone deserted Christ, even Peter the Apostle ran off and denied him three times. Only the thief on the cross stayed with Christ. Only he really remained faithful to the end in the final moment. Of course he was bound by his own immanent death and the utter consciousness of his own sin. Does sin bind us to God? No, but something nearby does.

The difference I think between a non-Christian and a Christian isn't that the Christian isn't a sinner. He is a sinner and maybe a greater one at times. The difference is in how he regards his sin. The non-Christian sinks deeper and deeper and lets it get power over him. The Christian has a savior who rescues him from sin and Christ is the source of "grace." With grace the believer can then be transformed as with a father who gently helps him go forward. SK writes, "That a person wants to sit and brood and stare at his sin and is unwilling to have faith that it is forgiven: is this also guilt in that it is a minimizing of what Christ has done?"

How we regard what Christ has done for us and and that he's forgiven us is what should bind us to him.