Processing Grief and Anger After Charlie Kirk's Assassination: What It Means for Christian Men
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Processing Grief and Anger After Charlie Kirk's Assassination: What It Means for Christian Men
A raw reflection on processing the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk and what his death reveals about the cost of bold Christian witness. The speaker grapples with anger, grief, and the disturbing reality of witnessing a man's final moments, while challenging men to consider their own willingness to sacrifice comfort and popularity for faith. Drawing on Matt Walsh's powerful observation that Kirk's enemies celebrated his death, this message asks a penetrating question: Are we living with enough courage and conviction that our impact for God's kingdom would provoke the same response?
It's been about 48 hours since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, and this isn't the typical content for this channel. But something like this hasn't happened in my lifetime. I had the privilege of being invited to a few of his events to speak at and attend with my wife, Kasia. We'd seen him speak, and just a month ago, we were there watching him address a crowd. Now I'm angry. I'm angry and I'm sad.
This channel is all about equipping you to lead and love like Jesus, and when things happen in culture that apply directly to our mission as men, we need to address them head-on.
The Weight of Witnessing Death
I'm angry because he didn't deserve to die. When it happened, I saw the video. Maybe some of you saw the video as well. It shocked me. It rocked me to my core. Even now, I'm still processing it.
You're not meant to see a man die like that. It's not the way we're wired. Seeing somebody go in that gruesome fashion, seeing a closeup of a man taking his last breath right before he meets Jesus—it messes with your mind and your heart. If you're processing that right now and experiencing something similar, know that it's going to take you a second to work through it.
When Evil Celebrates Good
The other piece to this is seeing the response on social media from people literally celebrating this man dying. This man who talked to people on college campuses. This man who said he was a Christian. This man who wasn't out there committing crimes, but was telling men to man up, to get married, to have families, to stand on the words and the principles of the Bible.
The Death of the Old Self
Charlie once said something profound about marriage that stuck with me: There's a reason why the dress for the man is the same at a wedding and a funeral. Because you're saying goodbye to your previous self. The woman is the icon, the symbol of beauty, almost always in all white, right? Ascendant. The man is usually in black and white like he's attending somebody's death—because it is his death.
Think about it. It's the death of the bachelor mindset. It's the death of promiscuity. It's the death of the wandering eye. It's the death of immoral behavior. It's the death of texting girls casually. It's the death of "I get to do what I want to do." It's the death of just going to the bar with friends. It's the death of acting like an infant. It's the death of playing video games till 1:00 a.m.
The Idol of Being Liked
We have such an idol in our culture, even as men, of being liked, of being cherished from each side. "I don't want to be a polarizing figure. I just want to be liked. I just want to be a nice guy." We value that so highly. And there's this idea that somehow that was how Jesus was—just this nice guy who was liked by everyone.
But that wasn't the case. Jesus was a polarizing figure. Why? Because he spoke the truth. He was unashamed about his faith. And yeah, he had some political opinions that people found wrong. And it's like, okay, that's fine. But he approached it with boldness and with courage.
How Do You Want to Be Remembered?
How do you want to be remembered? If you die and everything just goes away, how would you want to be associated with one thing? I want to be remembered for courage, for my faith. That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith.
And I have to ask: Would I be willing to be in that same situation? Would I be so bold, even now as somebody has been assassinated in that context, to be in front of that crowd of people? Or would I cower in the face of that kind of responsibility, in the face of that kind of weight?
The Calling to Sacrifice
Being a man is about sacrifice. How many of us have such a hard time sacrificing the smallest little pieces of ourselves, the smallest little comforts in order to become more disciplined with our scripture reading or to share the gospel with somebody because we're scared? We don't want to surrender those comforts. We don't want to sacrifice those things.
And yet that's our calling. That is our calling: to wake up every single day to sacrifice our comfort, to sacrifice what we have in order to give to others, in order to share with others, in order to love others. That's the calling. That's what Jesus did. He didn't live his life out of self-preservation, but rather he gave himself for us.
A Legacy That Makes Enemies Celebrate
Charlie seemed like a really good dude, and he made so much of an impact that his enemies cheered when he died. Matt Walsh said something that stuck with me: "May we be the type of men and type of people that when we die, our enemies celebrate because that's how much of a force we were for the kingdom of God."
