I found this illustration about sin that is eye opening. It reminds us that the grip of sin can be devastating.

As Christians we find that at times our heart grows cold in our affection for Christ. The business of life and the affection for other things gets in the way of what matters most. In this video, John Mac Arthur says, “Being a Christian is about loving Christ so much that you want to know Him, so much that you want to exalt Him, so much that you want to serve Him, so much that you want to be with Him, so much that you want to tell others about Him.”

God made Jesus sin. He treated Him as if He had committed our sin, even though He never sinned. God punished Jesus for our sin and when we place our faith in Jesus, God looks at us and He sees the righteousness of Jesus. This is referred to as the doctrine of substitution.