“The kingdom of heaven is like a man
who sowed good seed in his field;
but while men slept, his enemy came
and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop,
then the tares also appeared…
…The servants said to him,
‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
…No. Let both grow together until the harvest,
and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers,
‘first gather together the tares and bind them
in bundles to burn them,
but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:24-26, 28, 30

Stalks of wheat and stocks of tares look almost identical, they actually can’t be distinguished until both ripen. Likewise, it’s almost impossible to tell the children of God from the children of the world because many times they look alike. People have learned behavior as they’ve grown up. Some have learned to be “nice,” and are loved. Others have reacted to abuse and aren’t loved because they aren’t “nice,” but that doesn’t mean they aren’t children of God.

Just as there are both kinds in the fields, so there are both kinds in the Kingdom of God and you can’t tell who belongs to God and who belongs to the world by their outward appearance. But God knows his own. In the end, those who are his, those who have been born again, both nice and gruff, will go with him. And those who are not his, those who have not been born again, both nice and gruff, will go into everlasting judgment. The only condition is whether one has been born again.

“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes,
who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness
and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”
1st Corinthians 4:5

Born Again – What Does That Mean?