The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk was devastating to so many people and certainly to so many young adults who followed him. It is a sad and tragic loss to the youth of this country and the world. This was a man who spoke from his heart about his beliefs in Christianity and in God. He was involved in politics and Charlie was a controversial figure. My point here is not primarily about him. It is about us. It is about the evil that would cut down any man or woman for speaking their opinion, and the questions we face in our response to that evil. Are we willing to be silenced? What are we willing to lose for the sake of our beliefs?
The hashtag #IamCharlieKirk is trending on social media. His message is spreading further than ever. His Instagram followers increased tenfold and are still growing. Reports are everywhere of young people returning to church, with the hashtag #charliesentme. Untold thousands more are speaking up. His death ignited a movement.
I had no idea how much time he spent on college campuses, cheerfully debating all comers on the most difficult issues of the day. He wasn’t just a political figure. He was an evangelist. He spoke about how Christ changed his life and encouraged everyone he encountered to seek Him as well. He was defending the Christian view of life, of gender and of marriage.
He also clearly saw Christ in the students who stood before him. He was patient and charitable, regardless of how aggressively they came to him. That is not as easy as it may look. It takes a lot of grace.
He wasn’t perfect. He was a young man with a lot of fire with cameras trained on him constantly. He was brash and assertive at times. But those videos are a very small fraction of the total. Age and the increasing action of the Holy Spirit transformed him considerably in his later years.
It is clear that everything he did was based on his faith in Christ. He was willing to risk everything – even his life – to share it. He knew the danger. He saw the threats. He had to travel with his own security detail. And yet he didn’t quit. When asked how he wanted to be remembered, he said, “For courage in my faith.”
I did not follow Charlie Kirk nor did many people I know but I respected what he stood for and what he believed. He didn’t deserve to die how he did.
I am a Christian and I believe he has made an impact on me and on the world. Florida’s Lake County just named a highway the “Charlie Kirk Highway” in his honor. Something we will see often in the upcoming year.
May he rest in peace and God Bless his wife and children and grant them peace.
