Like many of you, I’ve spent the afternoon and evening following the details of this unspeakable tragedy and praying for Charlie’s family.

Charlie was a fellow image bearer—a man created in the likeness of our God. His death is tragic, heinous, and wicked. It has left his wife widowed and his children without their father.

What has dismayed me just as much is the response of some Christians online. Hot takes like “the chickens came home to roost” or calling him a “martyr”  and other comments like these are out of line. Christian, don’t let your politics blind you to evil. No one deserves violence— not children in schools, not politicians, not worshipers in churches, not people in public spaces, not even those you deeply disagree with.

Violence and hate are literally the opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit.

For years, I’ve said it: conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats—every political party is fighting for its own kingdom, but none of them are the Kingdom of God.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only answer to the curse of sin in this world. Don’t lose sight of that truth in the darkness around us.