One of the most influential people in my life presented this video to the youth in my home church.

"God, I've let you down so many times."

"No. You were never holding me up. I hold you up with my victorious righteous right hand and don't you forget that. In this relationship, I hold you up."

I became emotional during that part of the video, because it's something I've said to God before. It was a good reminder for me, that no matter how many times I fall, He remains the same wonderful God He is. He does not love me because I am valuable; I am valuable because He loves me. I pray that you would be willing to have Him free you from the bondages of sin and into a new life.
Take that step of faith.
More than anyone else in the world, God wants the best for you - and your best self glorifies Him the most.

⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

-Isaiah 55: 8-9

⁸"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
⁹not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

-Ephesians 2:8-10

I found this on the Rebelution and thought it should be shared. Reading this has blessed me and reminded me about how my relationship with Christ in turn gives me a new relationship with sin.

It is not in our efforts that we are saved, or that we should become self-righteous in the 'good' things we do. This list reminded me of how great and powerful God is, how He defeated sin. I am not saved by my own doing in any way, because He did everything already. Christians are never perfect. We still sin, we falter, we fall down. But I hope this list will be helpful in your faith walk. The Cross means that you are no longer bound to sin.

I've bolded the ones that struck me personally.
 

35 REASONS NOT TO SIN

• Because a little sin leads to more sin.

• Because my sin invites the discipline of God.

• Because the time spent in sin is forever wasted.

• Because my sin never pleases but always grieves God who loves me.

• Because my sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.

• Because in time my sin always brings heaviness to my heart.

• Because I am doing what I do not have to do.

• Because my sin always makes me less than what I could be.

• Because others, including my family, suffer consequences due to my sin.

• Because my sin saddens the godly.

• Because my sin makes the enemies of God rejoice.

• Because sin deceives me into believing I have gained when in reality I have lost.

• Because sin may keep me from qualifying for spiritual leadership.

• Because the supposed benefits of my sin will never outweigh the consequences of disobedience.

• Because repenting of my sin is such a painful process, yet I must repent.

• Because sin is a very brief pleasure for an eternal loss.

• Because my sin may influence others to sin.

• Because my sin may keep others from knowing Christ.

• Because sin makes light of the cross, upon which Christ died for the very purpose of taking away my sin.

• Because it is impossible to sin and follow the Spirit at the same time.

• Because God chooses not to respect the prayers of those who cherish their sin.

• Because sin steals my reputation and robs me of my testimony.

• Because others once more earnest than I have been destroyed by just such sins.

• Because the inhabitants of heaven and hell would all testify to the foolishness of this sin.

• Because sin and guilt may harm both mind and body.

• Because sins mixed with service make the things of God tasteless.

• Because suffering for sin has no joy or reward, though suffering for righteousness has both.

• Because my sin is adultery with the world.

• Because, though forgiven, I will review this very sin at the Judgment Seat where loss and gain of eternal rewards are applied.

• Because I can never really know ahead of time just how severe the discipline for my sin might be.

• Because my sin may be an indication of a lost condition.

• Because to sin is not to love Christ.

• Because my unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it an authority over me greater than I wish to believe.

• Because sin glorifies God only in His judgment of it and His turning of it to good use, never because it is worth anything on it’s own.

• Because I promised God he would be Lord of my life.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
 

Once upon a time, Someone decided to love you. He decided to love you even though there may be a chance that you will never know that He does. He decided to love you even though He knows quite well that you may turn away from Him. He decided to love you even if you won’t.

           His is a love that people will never be able to fully grasp for it is too great, too much, and too powerful. It is a kind of love that transcends race, language, culture, and time. It is a love that is able to relinquish its own infinite power into something as mortal as human. It is a love so great, that it is frightening. It is a love so deep, that it is personal. It is a love so real, that it entailed sacrifice.

He loved you quietly. He loved you with an intense amount, but did so quietly. You did not even notice when He stepped into your world of pollution, of sweltering heat, of freezing nights, and of broken homes. You couldn’t care less when He entered your world of discomfort, of embarrassment, of thirst, and of hunger. You didn’t know when He came. You didn’t know that He came for you. He entered into your world – a world that is alien to Him – just for you. He entered betrayal just for you. He entered persecution just for you. He even entered mortality. Nevertheless, you did not even know, nor did you care, nor did you love Him back. But he loved quietly still, as quietly as He came into this world.

He loved you devotedly. Every day of His short life on earth, He loved you. Every waking day of His ministry He helped you, healed you, and comforted you. He made you see when the world’s colors were unknown to you and when the faces of your loved ones had already been erased from your memory. He made you walk when you never experienced gravel and earth beneath your feet, when you never knew what it was like carrying your own weight. He made you clean when you were shunned by everyone else because of your disease. He didn’t turn away, nor was He repulsed by your appearance, but He cleaned you and washed you with pure water. He took your hand, when people were about to stone you. He protected you and stood His ground for you. He loved you devotedly even if you were willing to take advantage of His devotion. He continued to love you, even if you were only there for what you could get from Him - for his power, for his miracles. He didn’t matter to you, really; what mattered to you was what He could do for you.   

And He did many things for you, more than you’ll ever come to realize. Everything you smell, taste, touch, hear, and see all came from Him. Every waking morning came from him. Each constellation in the night sky came from him. Every cell, every enzyme, every fiber in your body came from Him. Your very heart cannot beat on its own will – it’s only by Him and His amazing grace. He is inescapable in His vastness; He is colossal in His works. But, even after everything He gave you and everything He has done, His love for you remains insurmountable.

Just look at the Cross. Look at the rusted nails and look at the battered body. Look at the crown of thorns thrust into his head. Look at his suffering face. Look at the Son of God, loving you enough to pay the price that you were really meant to pay – it should have been your blood on that tree. Look at the palm that sculpted the mountain range and the deep valleys, nailed on a wooden cross. The same palm that did not clench into a fist, while they were pounding a nail into it. Look at the blood, dripping from his torn flesh to his half-naked body, to the foot of the Cross.

      And listen to Him say, “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they do.”
        
         Sense His anguished heart.

      Sense His complete and utter submission to His Father’s Will, and His desire to bring you back to the Father; He rose - triumphed over death, defeated the enemy - on the third day.

          Sense His Love.