Receiving Christ or inviting him into our hearts, however, is not New Testament language and gives a distorted impression of what actually happens in so called conversion.
If Paul's view of reality is anything to go on, then Jesus, from eternity, has already included us in his life. Conversion to Christ is then us coming out of darkness and awaking to this truth.
Here is Paul:
"Long before he laid down earth's foundations, God had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:4-5
And...
"God who saved us and called us, not according to our works, but according to his own purposes and grace, which was given to us in Jesus Christ before time began."
So, receiving Christ amounts to awaking to the truth that you are already home free.
When Paul said,
"It is for Freedom that Christ set us free"
and
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom"
his words were based on this insight.
If we worry about our own performance regarding connecting with God, we are not free.
Bondage follows fretting over the quality of our repentance and the rightness of our believing.
We may feel closer to God when we are good and alienated when we are bad, but it's all illusion.
The Father did not leave it to us whether or not he accepted us.
His purposes are in no way dependent on our opinions or our decisions.
We don't get a vote.
"Long before God laid the earth's foundations, he decided to adopt us into his family."
In a real sense, coming alive to this truth is a kind of conversion. Everything changes. Realizing that we are included in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, that we are home free forever does or at least should transform us.
- Our guilty conscience loses its grip on our imagination.
- Other people's opinions of us exercise less power.
- love others, all others
- and freely forgive
- take risks
We begin to see the world as a safe place for us.
The greatest and most life changing benefit of all is what pops into our imaginations when we think of God. We now see him loving us with no shadow of turning.
There was never a time, nor will there ever be a time when he looks upon us with anything other than loving acceptance.