This is how God’s children-and the Devil’s children-are made evident.
Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially one who does not love his brother. For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, we should love one another.    1 John 3:10-11 HCSB

Why is it important that we know whether someone is a child of God or a child of the Devil? Well, because we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 to stay away from every kind of evil.

In our Scripture passage, John gives a very easy way for us to determine whether someone is good or evil. An evil person will not concern himself with doing what is right. He will satisfy the flesh. He will not bother to love his brother. He may be good to those who are good to him but will detest those who do not treat him well.

Jesus told us in Matthew 5:44 to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. As God’s children, we are called to love others, even the ones who are not so lovable. It doesn’t mean that we join in with them because we are to stay away from evil, but it does mean that we love them and pray for them.

We have to be able to discern between good and evil. Paul tells us in Romans 12:21 that we must not be conquered by evil, but we must conquer evil with good.

In order to not be conquered with evil and to go on and conquer evil with good, we must recognize evil.

Many people love to quote Matthew 7:1 out of context. They love to say, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” But if you continue reading you will see that Jesus goes on to say that with whatever measure we use to judge, we will be judged by that same measure.. He then says we must remove the log from our own eye so we can see clearly to remove the speck from our brother’s eye.

Jesus never actually tells us we must not judge. In fact, there are many Scripture passages like the one we have today where we are told that we must discern evil from good. We must use a certain amount of judgment to do so.

As children of God, however, we are still called to love. Love is what the Ten Commandments are all about. Jesus summarized the Ten commandments in Matthew 22:37-39 by saying that the greatest commandment was that we love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. He said the second was like it in that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

In John 13:35, Jesus said, “By this everyone will know you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

It’s all about the love. If you want to discern whether someone is good or evil, look at how they love others. Do they only love those who love them or from whom they can benefit? Do they put themselves first in all they do? If so, they are not a child of God.

And while doing this, do a little self-examination. Can someone look at you and tell you are a child of God by the way you love Him and love others. If not, you may want to fix this, just saying.

Have a great day!