Why are you doing this?

One reason. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

Since the fall of man (Adam and Eve), sin has been prevalent in the world. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God." That means every single one of us is a sinner.

Since God is gracious and merciful, He provided a way for us to be forgiven for all of the times we've disobeyed Him. To show that we are truly sorry for our sins, we have to have a sacrifice given on our behalf. The book of Leviticus goes through the details of how these sacrifices are to be given. Before Christ, a clean animal  without defect had to be killed in order for us to be forgiven for our sins. This was a very lengthy process and took total devotion to complete.

So, we have been told that we are sinners, BUT we can be forgiven for our sins through a sacrifice. Then, God did something unbelievable. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ-- God in human form. He was born to a virgin and grew up studying the scriptures. You see, Jesus was fully human and fully God. Even though He was human, He never sinned. He was tempted over and over again, but He remained faithful to His calling on earth. He came to tell people that He was the messiah (savior) and He was going to save them. There were many people who did not believe that Jesus was who He said He is. Because of this, they plotted to kill Jesus and have Him die the most brutal death - a crucifixion.  

And it happened. He was killed.

We know that Jesus could have easily thrown himself off the cross and saved Himself from all of the pain He endured. But he didn't do that. God had something else in mind. If you remember from earlier, a sacrifice used to atone sins had to be without any defect... it and to be perfect. You may also remember that Jesus never sinned... He was perfect. So, even though Jesus never committed a sin or disobeyed His father, He decided that he would be the sacrifice for the entire world. The sacrifice to free us from the bondage of sin. He died the death we all deserve because of our sin, even though He had no sin in Him.

Why would He do this for us? We are such sinners that disobey God daily. Why would God want to redeem us? It's much more simple than you think...

"For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16

He loves us. Even though we sin against Him, He still loves us. So much that He sent His only son to die the death that we deserve. He loves us so much that He wants to spend eternity in heaven with us despite all of our shortcomings. That is a greater amount of love than our earthly minds can ever comprehend.

But it doesn't end there. Three days after Jesus' death and burial, He rose from the grave! He came back to life and showed everyone that He truly is The Son of God. He ascended into Heaven and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.

Because of what Jesus has done, we do not have to perform these lengthy sacrifices that we were commanded to do in Leviticus. Jesus made it 1000x easier for us. To truly be forgiven for our sins we must do three simple things:

1. Believe- We must believe that we are all sinners and in need of a savior to be forgiven for our sins. We must also believe that Jesus is our savior and that He lived a perfect life, yet died a death for us that we deserved. 
2. Repent - Humble yourself and confess your sins to God through prayer and He will forgive you.
1. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9
3. Commit- Commit your life to following Him. Share this great news with all of those you encounter so that they can no longer be in pain and can also experience the joy that The Lord brings. Keep in mind that you will never be perfect. After you become a Christian, you will still sin and make mistakes. However, The Lord will help you resist temptations and mold you to become more like Christ as you study the Bible and pray.

The answer to my original question is simple. I go to this orphanage and love on these children because it is what I have been called to do in response to my decision of asking Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I am just doing what His Word tells me to do.

• "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -Matthew 28:19-20
• "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27

"Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!" -Psalm 66:20