“The problem is we just don’t know,” he said.

“We just don’t know what?” I asked.

“We just don’t know what is expected of us.”

“From friends and family?”

“No. From God.”

I didn’t think that to be true. I believe no matter what our faith, there are clear guidelines set for each of us.

“Isn’t there a rule book? I think we call it the Bible?” I said smiling.

He gave me one of those looks my wife gives me when I am being sarcastic.

“I’m not talking about rules. I’m not talking about guidelines for how we should live,” he said.

“Then what?”

“I don’t believe we know what God sees in us. I don’t believe we know the potential, the possibilities, the facts and the truth we hold inside ourselves.”

I was stunned. I mean, I really never thought about it that way. He was right. I believe most of us see our faith as rules and regulations. Like a “how to” book on life or an instruction manual for operating within our faith.

“God is telling us so much more, but we aren’t listening. In fact, I believe those outside any kind of faith, see it as too limiting. Many faith-filled believers don’t even realize what they have,” he continued.

He may be right.

“Faith is seeing a stream but believing in the ocean,” I said.

“Yes!” He shouted with excitement.

I love conversations like this. I need to hear what I believe to be true. God has given us instructions not on how to live, but how to become all He sees in us. Words not of possibilities, but of fact.

“If we only knew,” he said.

How powerful that is. Faith is not just possibilities. To have faith says “This is what I know,” not “This is what I think I know.”

Faith is not “What I believe,” but “what I know to be true.”

The very second we turn believing into knowing we instantly become all that God sees in us.

If I only knew…love I would be more loving. If I only knew…hope, I would be hope-filled. If I only knew…I could not fail, I would be successful. If I only knew…happiness, sadness would not have a place in my life. If I only knew…joy, joy would be given to all who knew me. If I only knew…peace, there would be no war.

To know is to see what God sees in you.

To see what God sees in you is to acknowledge God in your life.

Faith…”if you only knew.”

Bob Perks Bob@BobPerks.com