As I watched the memorial service for Charlie Kirk his widow, Erika Kirk, quoted Luke 23:34 as Jesus was hanging on the cross He uttered these words, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” She then she offered forgiveness to that young man who shot her husband. That is the power of the Gospel.

After Charlie Kirk’s assassination there were no riots in our cities – there were prayer meetings. The Church father Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Could this be a turning point for America? Can we as a nation put aside our partisan differences and seek to work together in America?

We read in the book of Proverbs, “There is a way which seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death” (14:12). May we choose the way of life and follow the Prince of Peace. May we see that Charlie Kirk did not die in vain, but that his work shall continue on as he sought to have open dialogue with those who disagreed with him.

To paraphrase the words of Abraham Lincoln: It is rather for us, the living, to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us that, from the life of Charlie Kirk that we take increased devotion to that cause for which he gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that Charlie did not die in vain; that this nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.