What Charlie Kirk’s Life Reminds Us: Seek God Now

[Darris McNeely] This week I was thinking about a Bible verse that describes a moment in the history of ancient Israel when the people had a choice. It's in 1 Chronicles 12:32. It says, The sons of Issachar had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do.

I was thinking about that verse and actually driving home on a very beautiful fall afternoon when I heard about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, a commentator, political activist, a young man, a father of two small children, and a husband. What a tragedy. What a loss for the nation, and certainly for his family and those that knew him and loved him. Kirk was a individual that came and just kind of like a flash across the sky with his commentary, with his hard-won views, and his ability to engage young people. He's credited with actually influencing the 2024 presidential election for Donald Trump and helping him to secure the presidency at that time, largely because he was able to help young people engage and be involved in the body politic. And so he was a very significant figure. His death leaves his supporters angry and determined.

In reading about Charlie Kirk, I learned that he was a professing Christian. He actually talked very openly about his faith. And I had heard some time back that he was a keeper of the Sabbath day, the seventh day Sabbath, Saturday, which I am. And of course, we teach here on Beyond Today.

So did a quick AI search on this, and it was very interesting. Indeed, he was a Sabbath keeper. He was actually writing a book about the Sabbath. He felt that when he learned about this from another individual, that his life improved dramatically as from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday evening, he turned his cell phone off, didn't look at his emails, and just had a day of rest. And he came to understand the beauty of the Sabbath from a biblical perspective and the impact that it had on his life. And he was going to write about that. He actually made a comment that I saw. He said that only slaves worked seven days a week. And so it's actually showing in his life that he had a very high regard for Scripture. And no doubt that, along with his particular views on the culture, on politics, on life, and on society, drove his passion for conservative policies, including the right to the unborn.

It made him an articulate defender of America as well and America's role in the world today. And sadly, it appears that that passion influenced others in a different direction, in a horrendous act of evil that took his life.

You know, assassination is unfortunately on the rise again in America. Just recently, a gunman opened fire on a state senator in Minnesota. We have seen a transgender individual shoot into a Catholic church where people were at prayer, wounding 21 people. And just as we were hit with the news of Charlie Kirk, we were dealing with the news of a young Ukrainian lady who was stabbed in her neck on public transport in Charlotte, North Carolina, all of this taking place at a time, recent attacks showing the divide in our nation. A split down the middle, a split between the red states and the blue states.

You know, every national election that we engage in at this point is cast in terms that this election is the most decisive for the future of our country. Well, there may be some truth to that.

But for you and I, what should we do? Where do you and I fall in this moment of time that is ours? Go back to that Scripture that I was reading from 1 Chronicles earlier. What are your thoughts? Where are those thoughts taking you?

You know, regardless of where one might fall on the red, the blue spectrum of our culture and our society right now, between every divide, there is a space. I'd like to talk about that space. There is the middle. No, I'm not talking about the middle ground. I'm talking about something different. In that space, we should find grace. It's in the space that we should be able to find grace. You know, both sides of any particular issue ardently, passionately feel that they are right. But both sides can't be completely right. There is another way. And it is a way that is revealed through the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, Charlie Kirk believed in Jesus as His Lord and His Savior. Again, he spoke openly about that faith. And yet, hatred and evil ended his life prematurely in this mindless shooting. When we step back from this and we look at our world right now, good people of all walks of life, all nations, all nationalities, all faiths, all religions, good people suffer from evil in this world. And that evil remains unexplained.

We have wars that rage around the world in Gaza, in Ukraine. The fear of another conflict in Asia looms continually on the horizon. This month, the United States General Assembly will come together in New York and they will mark the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the United Nations. Many will ask, what has this world body actually accomplished in those 80 years? It's a good question. It'll be debated.

But what about that space? What about that space where you find grace? What is that way we're talking about here? Missed by the United Nations. Frankly, missed by all peoples in a completely profound way that we need to understand.

In the book of Luke 4, at verse 18, Jesus Christ, beginning His public ministry, stands up in a synagogue in His hometown Nazareth in the northern Galilee of Israel. And He opens the scroll, or the scroll is already open, but He knew it all from His heart to begin with. And He quotes a passage out of Isaiah, chapter 61. And He says, "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.' And Luke's gospel records He concluded His message, and He sat down."

It was an astonishing message. Interestingly, Jesus omitted the last part of Isaiah 61:2 that says, when you turn to Isaiah 61 and read, it says, "'And the day of the vengeance of our Lord,' which was part of the message of the prophet as well. But Jesus omitted it there.

There is coming, a day of judgment, a day of judgment upon all peoples and nations." The Bible refers to that as the day of the Lord. Jesus and His message there that Luke records was preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Mark's account in chapter 1 of Mark records that Jesus came preaching a message of repentance, and to urge and challenge people to accept the terms of the kingdom that was now before them, that was breaking upon them in His ministry. And that indeed did happen.

Taken together, all of these passages show us the beauty of that way of grace that we all need to find to be able to unlock people from the prisons that they're in, to proclaim liberty to them. That's what the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God is all about. That's what Christ message was all about. And yes, it did include a message of warning that there was a coming, a time of a day of vengeance. That's in the future. We're not there yet. Some people feel that we may be close, perhaps, but it may be that there is yet time, and that's what we should consider.

Time to heed the Word of God. Time to examine our life and our ways before the Word of God and from the pages of the Bible. Time to seek grace and meaning, and to seek a measure of truth, and to build a bridge to God. And if the opportunity presents itself, to build a bridge to each other between those polarizing positions that we find so prevalent today. Dividing America, ultimately dividing the world, but most importantly, keeping us from understanding the grace of God and having that bridge to God.

We are at a moment. We indeed are. A moment described in the verse that I read from 1 Chronicles earlier about the sons of Issachar, and we should understand our times to know what to do. It's a moment to find grace the better way between the polarizing positions that we have before us today. This is a moment for each of us to seek God, to change, and to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

We should all pray for the family of Charlie Kirk, his friends. We should all pray for our nation, America, Canada, your nation, wherever you may be, that more people will step back from the fever pitch that causes them to participate in a debate that has seized the body of politics and society in our world today. May you, may I, may all turn with humility and grace and ask for God's pardon and mercy. That's the time we are in, and that is the opportunity before each of us.