Relearning Life

Although Freeslaves.org is not run by a traditional church or religious organisation, we like our donors to be aware that there is a clear spiritual component to our work. This takes place mainly in small groups, where we share about the design of life with people who are interested.

We believe that all people have a specific design and that this design gives us our sense of purpose and value in life.

We use a simple metaphor to help explain this. Imagine that you are a clock-maker who carefully and lovingly made a clock. If that clock came to life and asked you what its purpose was, what would you say? The answer of course is, “Tell the time.” That one command reveals the design and purpose of the clock. Only when the clock discovers its design can it realise its true value and identity.

But now imagine that your clock got broken and could no longer tell the time. If it asked you for forgiveness, would you forgive it? Yes! And then what would you do? Repair it!

So what is our purpose in life? Why did God create us?

We find the answer in the words of Jesus. In the Bible, we read that a lawyer once asked Jesus a question, saying, “Teacher, which command is the most important in the Law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and most important command. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.”

In Pakistan, most people think that believing in God is just about going to a church or a mosque each week and trying your best to be a good person. But here, Jesus is saying that it is love alone that matters.
His answer is just like commanding a clock to tell the time. By giving us the greatest command, Jesus is showing us that God has perfectly and wonderfully made each one of us to love him and love each other with our entire being.

Science confirms this design of love. When we look a brain scans, we find that our brains come to life with love and it feels amazing! Babies die without love, children cannot grow into healthy adults without love, and in our maturity, our experience of love affects our life expectancy. In short, from start to finish, our whole being is designed for love!

Both our identity and our value stem from our sense of design. So we will never know our real identity until we believe that God has created us for a life of wholehearted love. This is who we are and it is what makes each one of us so immensely valuable.

The sad news is that we all choose a life of selfishness instead of love and forfeited our value. Like a clock that can no longer tell the time, we are all broken and unable to fully love God. So will God forgive us? Of course! But then what will He do?

Restoring Design
God is determined to restore our design of love and the cross is the key to God’s repair. At the cross, Jesus died and took our selfishness and sin into death. Now, if we are willing, He will remove the selfishness from our heart and give us a new heart that is full of love. This is the key to healing from trauma. When a person opens their heart to love, the love that God pours out brings profound healing and real freedom. 

Everything finds its greatest pleasure when it lives according to its design. Flowers flourish when they are rooted in good soil and have sun and water; fish thrive in the water; sheep enjoy grass; birds like flying; all life flourishes in design and languishes outside design. So our challenge to people is to deeply consider God’s design of love and reach out to connect with him. We believe that like a fish returning to the water, if people will turn to God and embrace their design of love, they will find their greatest fulfillment and deepest joy in life!