43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.REFLECTIONSWritten by Tania DarmoGrowing up as a nominal Christian in Iraq, I knew and heard these words before. But when we became refugees, I found it hard to understand how Jesus was asking Christians to love their enemies and to pray for them instead of cursing them. We became refugees and our house was burned down and many people lost their lives with dead bodies lying in the streets. But God changed my perspective after he caused me to be born again and I understood that God has done this to me. I was his enemy and instead of hating me, he loved me perfectly though Christ and saved me through his sacrifice, which reminds me of other verses like John 3:16 and Romans 5:10.I still can’t do this perfectly, but I know in and through Christ we can love perfectly and we have been reconciled to God the Father and have become his children. Through Christ, the perfect man, I too have perfection even when during this life I fail to do so much. Why don’t you too join me in trusting Jesus so that you too will be another perfect child of God.ABOUT THE AUTHORTania is married to Sam and she is #2 out of 6 sisters.