I try to avoid politics because I too easily become obsessed with things that I can’t control, which leads my heart and my mind in some very dark directions. That’s the reason why, before this week, I barely knew Charlie Kirk existed. What I’ve read from people who knew him personally, however, seems to indicate that he was a godly man. As I write this, a suspect is in custody and, although the investigation into his murder is still going on, it seems clear that he was assassinated simply because his killer disagreed with what he was saying.
But neither Charlie Kirk nor his killer is the real burden on my heart right now; it’s the crowd of people minimizing, justifying, and even celebrating his murder. And the genuinely awful thing is that I’m not the least bit surprised. I live in a society, and in a world, where evil men and women feel comfortable openly proclaiming their hatred. Worse than that, they claim moral superiority on the grounds of that hatred. They don’t just justify evil, they justify themselves by their commitment to it.
We are at war, and have been for thousands of years. But sometimes I can forget what that really means. It’s not just demons.
As Paul writes in Philippians:
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things (Philippians 3:18-19).
“Enemies” is not a word that most of us in the American church today are comfortable with, but that’s what God calls them. “Enemies of the cross of Christ.” In other words, enemies of God. Scripture tells us further:
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19).
Read those words again: “under the control of the evil one.” Apart from Christ, people are not just hostages of the devil, they are actively at war with God, even if they don’t consciously admit it. Just like I once was. And if I am faithful as an agent of Christ, they are at war with me too. It cannot be otherwise. My king’s enemies are my enemies as well.
But it’s only as we recognize that we do have actual, human enemies that we can make sense of Christ’s radical words:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 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 (Matthew 5:43-45).
The people I live among are my enemies, in the fullest sense of the word. I must therefore treat them the same way God treated me, when I was his enemy.
Now, I already know what you’re going to say. You know plenty of people who don’t follow Jesus but who also don’t hate you. So do I. Celebrate those people, and rejoice in the fact that God is already at work in their hearts. Don’t ever accept it as normal, but recognize the Holy Spirit in action, and use that evidence of his grace to strengthen your prayers for them.
But I won’t shrink from calling people my enemies. Or God’s. Instead, I will ask Christ for the grace to treat our enemies the same way that he does. And I won’t give up hoping to be reconciled with them, and that one day I will welcome my former enemies as brothers and sisters.