Steps to Christ~ Recovery Edition...series 2b

"Before Adam sinned, he loved to talk with God. Think what it was like to talk to the One who is the source of all wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3)! But when he rebelled, Adam disconnected from God. He became afrai and wanted to hide. It's like that for all of us until God changes our hearts. We get disconnected from God and caught up in our dysfunction and addictions, and we can't enjoy talking to Him. As sinners, we could never be happy being with god or with those who love Him. If God let us into heaven we'd hate it. We would never understand the unselfish motives of the angels. Becase of our evil thoughts and interests, we'd feel like misfits. We'd be like a wrong note, out-of-tune with the melody of heaven. Heaven would actually be torture to us. We would want to run away and hide from God- the One who is the source of joy to everyone else. That's why God leave it up to us to choose whether we want to be with Him in heaven or not. He won't force us to be with Him because, as sinners, His holiness and glory would consume us like fire. In our sin, we'd welcome death in order to hide from Jesus, the One who died to save us."

From "Steps to Christ~ Recovery Edition" by Cheri Peters with Sophia Berecz 

quote found in chapter 2