Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
In this episode, I reflect on the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk and what his example means for us as Christians moving forward. Charlie Kirk was a man of discipline, conviction, and grit – a reminder that Christianity is not for the faint of heart. We are called to run the race with endurance, to stand firm in the truth, and to live with courage even when it costs us.
I’ll walk through what it means to have GRIT as followers of Christ – Grounded in God’s Word, Resilient in trials, Intentional in faith, and Tenacious for the truth. This is not about applause or comfort but about finishing the race well, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9.
As we grieve, we don’t grieve as those without hope. We remember that our God is unchanging, sovereign, and victorious over death itself. The best way to honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy is to live with the same grit and conviction, keeping our eyes fixed on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
Intro
Welcome back to the Her Faith Inspires podcast where we take cultural issues and examine them through the lens of scripture. I have so many thoughts today. To be honest, I’m terribly sad about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I cannot believe I’m even saying that and I could not process the reality of Charlie Kirk getting gunned down at one of his events for several days. On one hand it was so unbelievable that he was gone and on the other hand, I couldn’t believe the level of evil and hate we have in this country. That someone can be gunned down because someone else cannot handle their opposing beliefs. How weak. How cowardice.
I know this is a solo episode, but I don’t have it in me to do a between the lines. Butt, I just feel like this is more of a somber moment. I want to talk about where we go from here as Christians, how we as Christians should respond to this tragedy, and what Charlie Kirk stood for.
How I Found Out
Last week, I was in Orlando at the Patrick Bet-David conference for my oldest son. We were at the Gaylord Resort and my allergies were just terrible. I had a headache, itchy ears, throat, and eyes. The resort is also a huge aquarium with tons of plants in it so I think I was having a reaction to all of the plants. I have over thirty allergies from grasses, trees, and other plants so I was just struggling. I took a nap on Wednesday afternoon and my brother, who was also there for his daughter and son in law, knocked on our door. My husband got up to answer it and my brother said, “Charlie Kirk has been shot. It looks bad.” I heard him and jumped out of bed and repeated, “Charlie Kirk?”
My husband immediately got on his phone and saw the video of Charlie Kirk taking a bullet to the neck. I cannot and will not watch it. I can’t even believe we live in a time where we see people die right on our screens. It dehumanizes the person because we don’t know them and they are so far removed from us. Death is just a part of our culture now. And if you don’t like the views of the person who is murdered, people celebrate. There are no consequences. There are no repercussions. And we become more and more desensitized to seeing violence played out right in front of us. I have so much to say about this, but I have to save it or I’ll go off in a tangent.
My husband watched the video and told me not to watch it. He said it looks bad and he didn’t expect Charlie Kirk to make it. I sat on my bed for a while and just stared, prayed, pleaded with God to heal him. I was stunned. My husband told me again that he expected the news to come out quickly that Charlie Kirk didn’t make it. The shot was that bad – right in the jugular and Charlie Kirk went down almost immediately.
Sure enough, after about 30 minutes, President Trump gave an official report that Charlie Kirk was dead at age 31.
Tragic. Unbelievable. Unimaginable. Sorrowful.
That’s how so many of us feel right now. The question of what do we do now lingers. But the raw emotion of the loss we feel over Charlie’s life is still gnawing. I feel sadness, anger. I feel enraged yet the rational side of me says wait. Gather your thoughts. And when the time is right, God will give you the words to say. But if there is one thing I don’t feel it’s fear. I don’t feel like it’s time to slow down. I don’t feel like we should change the message. Charlie’s message was Christ. Everything else he said flowed from that message. Charlie Kirk is better off today than he ever was in this life, and Charlie said he had a good life. But we’re here. We still occupy this world. What will we do now?
When I first met Charlie
I’ve been listening to Charlie Kirk for several years, but I had a chance to meet him in 2022 in Charlotte, NC at a TPUSA event where Dr. Frank Turek spoke. The OCC team was going to have an in-person meeting so we went to the Turek’s house and met and later that night we went to the TPUSA event to hear Frank. We sat on the very front row and after Frank spoke, Charlie took questions and debated college students. After the event, Frank took us backstage to meet Charlie and I was able to shake his hand and take a picture with him. He was gracious and tall and extremely friendly.
Charlie’s Influence
I have three boys and they are all Gen Z. They listen to Charlie and admire him and look up to him. They are his audience. He inspired them to take knowledge into their own hands. Two of them were home when the news hit about Charlie and my youngest, who is 15, expressed his sadness. But then he said that Charlie’s death will bring many to Christ because of what he stood for. He also talked about how Charlie is in Heaven with Jesus so although this is sad and tragic, we have the hope that we will see him again.
My Middle Son
My middle son said Charlie inspired him to read more. He said he listens to Charlie’s podcast and heard him say he reads 100 books a year. My boys are readers. Two of them chose skills and real estate instead of college, but they value knowledge and learning and growing into young men of God. Charlie’s life is only inspiring them to push harder and grow more.
My Oldest
My oldest wants justice. He wants the murderer to be punished in public for all to see because this has to stop. What I gather from those around me, not just from my boys, but from others who followed Charlie, is that they are not afraid. They are ready to stand up and speak up.
But let me add this about Charlie – he spoke well. He knew what he was talking about. He studied and put in the work. I’ve said this before but knowledge and debate skills like Charlie’s don’t come without hard work and grit. He had both. But those are good traits for the young. Charlie Kirk believed in marriage and family. He encouraged kids to honor their mother and father. He loved his wife, Erika. Charlie was a good man. That’s what it comes down to.
I told my husband and brother that Charlie wasn’t a political leader. He wasn’t a politician. Charlie was just an American who practiced his first amendment rights. He believed in the Constitution of the United Stated of America. But ultimately, he was a martyr. Charlie was outspoken about Jesus. He was a man of Fatih. He spoke the truth and that truth was foundational to biblical truth. Charlie was a martyr. He was killed for what he believed and he wasn’t shy about it.
After listening to him and putting all of the messages together that I’ve seen over the years, I don’t think Charlie Kirk would have done anything differently. I don’t think he would have backed down. If he had to do it all over again, he would.
What does this say about our country?
I think we’re worse off than I initially thought. It was bad when Donald Trump was shot and had two attempts on his life last year. It would have been tragic if he died. But he didn’t and we all moved on and the media and left-wing politicians haven’t toned down their rhetoric. They still call Donald Trump and those who support him Naziss. And look, I don’t care if anyone gets mad at me for saying left-wing, right-wing, conservative. Christians who say not to get involved in politics need to wake up! Charlie Kirk was killed for his beliefs.
He was killed for proclaiming the name of the same God you say you serve. He was killed for saying what God said about humans in Genesis 1 – that humans are created in His image and that He created them male and female. So I don’t care anymore. I don’t care to tiptoe around topics. And look, I don’t think I tiptoe around topics anyway, but even more so – I am not going to tiptoe around the fact that the church MUST speak up about the truth, no matter if it’s political or not.
Christians Do Not Know Their Bibles
We are in this situation because Christians do not know their bibles. Christians do not uphold the truths of God’s word. We know this because George Barna’s AWI says that while 64% of Americans claim to be Christian, only 4% have a biblical worldview. We say we are Christians, We let it roll off the tongue. Yet, we are afraid to speak up about basic truths like gender is binary – one man and one woman. We are afraid to get “political” because people have told us that Christians should’t get involved in politics. That is not the way of the Christian. The way of the Christian is to speak the truth no matter who tells you to shut up.
We have raised a weak generation.
We have raised a generation of kids who cannot handle opposing views. They’ve lost the skill of debate. And because they’ve lost the skill of debate, they don’t see the value in having discourse. They don’t see the value in the art of persuasion. If you want to debate someone to persuade them, you have to care about them. You have to see them as human beings and know there is more to them than just a body but a soul that matters. So you strive with them. You talk to them. You dialogue with them. And you believe you have the truth so you give it to them because you want them to believe the truth too. Especially because a Christian knows that Jesus already said He is the way, the truth, and the life, and the truth sets us free.
I don’t know how to get back to what we’ve always heard America is. I don’t know how you can say you live in a free country when politicians call those they hate Nazis and people you don’t agree with get shot. But we have to try because as Ronald Reagan once said, “America is the worlds last greatest hope.”
And that leads me to what I’ve been thinking about the last few days:
The other day I was talking to one of my boys about grit and I told him you can’t get grittier than Christianity. My favorite verse is 1 Corinthians 9:27 that says, “I train my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should so that after I preach to others, I myself may not be disqualified.”
Christians are, or should be, the most disciplined of all people.We have spiritual disciplines that help us die to ourselves like reading the Bible, praying, fasting. The bible is clear that we are running a race set before us and we are to run as through to win the prize. That means you give it all you got. You put it all out there. Grit. Grit is not absent of grace.Grit is courage and resolve; strength of character. That means we push through the hard. We believe God more than we want the praises of men so we speak the truth even when it’s not easy; even when we are told to shut up.
Controversy
My SIL told me she gets nervous to post things online. She is intimidated by the controversy. I get it. I used to as well. It gets easier the more you do it but it’s not easy at first. What I told her is that everyone dies. We don’t speak because we’re afraid of what we’ll lose – a friend, friends, a job, an opportunity. Those are real fears.
They could happen. And like Charlie Kirk, some people lose their lives. But you will not keep anything by trying to save it. You will not keep your job by compromising. You will not keep your friendship by not being yourself and telling them what you truly believe. If you do that, you will lose something in that friendship. You will lose yourself, your faith, or even the truth because you’re afraid of what you’ll lose if you reveal that’s who you really are.
And for what? A moment of applause? A friendship that’s not really friendship because you have to be careful of your beliefs?
Let me remind you of what Christianity is through our greatest example, Jesus Christ.
In John 6, Jesus told His disciples that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. I’m going to read you this passage but it’s a little long. But this is to show you that Jesus, although loving, told the truth and didn’t sugarcoat it. He didn’t chase them. He exposed them and they were angry because they didn’t like the reflection of their own hearts. Jesus let them walk away.
Feeding the 5000
Right before this teaching, Jesus fed the 5,000 and the crowds followed Him because He fed them and met their needs. But Jesus was pushing them toward commitment to Him. They wanted what He could do for them, but they didn’t want Him. They would have said, “Yeah, we follow Christ.” He told them they needed more – they needed to understand that it wasn’t only about the momentary need being met but their eternal soul.
This is what He said, “22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread[c] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus[d] said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
I know that’s long. But see the grit in Jesus’ response. He let them go. And He didn’t hold back. He spoke the truth and He let them walk away. Did He want them to believe? Of course, He did. But He didn’t compromise the message to keep them. Everyone has a responsibility to respond to the truth. Some respond by denying it and walking away from it. Some respond like Peter who said, “Where else can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” There is no neutral response. There is no in-between. The truth either repels or it draws in. Those how speak it must do so regardless of the response.
Where do we go from here?
I’m not going to say that a sleeping giant was awakened or that this has sparked an uprising in many Christians. Maybe that’s true. But it won’t happen because we say it will. It will only happen if we lived like Charlie Kirk. He was a man of discipline. Charlie was a man of conviction. He was a man who worked hard for the knowledge he had. It doesn’t come easy. And he paid a price for it. So where do we go from here? Look in the mirror. Start there.
In following the message grit as a Christian, let’s use the acronym grit for what you can do as we move forward after losing a true Christian leader.
G – Grounded in God’s Word
We anchor our lives in Scripture through prayer, fasting, and daily reading. This is how we train like athletes (1 Cor. 9:27) and stay rooted in truth. You can read all the books you want but if you don’t read the Bible you will not speak Biblical truth when it’s needed. How can you? Like Jesus said in John 6 – He is the bread of life. You must consume the word of God. If you are a Christian and you/re not in the word, how can you have a relationship with God? The bible is God’s special revelation to us.
R – Resilient in Trials
We endure hardship, opposition, and fear with courage, knowing that suffering produces perseverance and character (Rom. 5:3–4). Charlie’s passing is a tough one for me. I don’t know that I’ve been this distraught over the death of a public figure in, maybe my entire life. This is hard. But we live. We grieve but not as those without hope. To be resilient means, “able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.” We have the strength of the Lord. We will recover.
I – Intentional in Faith
We don’t drift. We live with resolve—choosing obedience, pursuing holiness, and boldly proclaiming Christ, even when it costs us. Paul told Timothy that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. To live a godly life is intentional. Jesus said that we are to take up our cross daily and follow Him. You must be intentional to follow Christ. To follow someone is intentional.
T – Tenacious for the Truth
We refuse to compromise for applause or comfort. Like Jesus in John 6, we speak truth in love and stand firm, even if others walk away. In fact, we don’t even contemplate whether or not they will. We just speak the truth.
Close:
I want to remind you of who our God is. These truths will encourage you as we look to what’s next:
God is immutable, meaning He does not change. He is strong, sovereign, all powerful, all knowing, That never changes. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8).
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. Although the enemy rules the earth and roams it looking of whom he may devour, God is the creator of the universe. Since He created it, nothing is done apart from His watchful eye or even His allowing it to happen. That does not mean God created evil. When there is free will, the sinfulness of man is influenced by the evil one and is therefore a slave to sin. But those who are in Christ Jesus are free from the law of sin and death.
Death, where is your sting?
Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? Jesus Christ defeated death, hell, and the grave. The only thing that separates us from any of our loved ones who pass on before us is the time we remain here on earth before the Lord calls us home. But while we remain, we run. We run the race set before us as though there is only one prize and we want to win it.
We fight. Not as one beating the air, but with a purpose. We know this is a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6 tells us we don not wrestle against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities and dark forces in the heavenly realms. So we pray. We speak the truth. We occupy the space we’re in here on this earth until the Lord takes us home. All we should want is for the Lord to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.”
Charlie Kirk is a brother in Christ who has done just that. May we do the same. The Lord willing, I’ll catch you on the next one.
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