Trump Won, Now What?

The election is over. Trump will be President of the United States for a second time. He won both the Electoral vote and the Popular vote. It was a decisive victory.

For many Christians, this comes as great news. We prayed for this. We campaigned for this. We fought for this. And while some of us were in it for the wrong reasons, many of us did not fight for Trump the man, rather, we fought against the greater evils of the Democratic Platform. I say greater evils because we have to remember that the Republican Platform and certainly Trump’s Platform are not Christian in nature. So now what?

As both Christians and conservatives, I think we need to really get a grasp on what our objectives are and where we need to go from here. We need a roadmap. A game-plan. Now, that is way above my pay grade to be sure. However, I do think there are some practical steps for each individual Christian to take.

First, I think it is important that we pray for Donald Trump (1 Timothy 2:1-2). We need to pray for his salvation. We need to pray that he will surround himself with godly voices. We need to pray for his safety. We need to pray for his wisdom. We need to pray for his submission to God.

But not only Trump, we should be praying the same thing for all of our leaders. Senators, Congress men and women, Governors, all the way down. We should be praying for them all. Even those that we do not agree with. This is what we are commanded to do.

Second, we need to extend an olive branch to each other. The country is divided. There is no question about that. There are many reasons for it, and there is plenty of blame to go around. And, if we are honest, no single group is innocent in this. So it is time we reach across aisles in Christian love. True Christian love. Not anything we heard on the campaign trails. Luke 6:35 says to love and be good to our enemies and to expect nothing in return. We are called to extend the olive branch. That is our job. It is not our job to see that it is reciprocated. Expect nothing in return. Mend the bonds, build the bridges, extend the olive branch.

Third, we need to come up with strategies for policy decisions and what we will advocate for as well as who we want to see as candidates going forward from dog catcher all the way to the next President of the United States. We cannot be complacent in this.

As I have said many times, Donald Trump was not a good candidate for Christians. I, like many others, voted for him as the lesser of two evils. But some Christians could not, in good conscience, even vote for him as that. And that is understandable. We need to work to put towards candidates that do represent our values as the body of Christ and work to get those individuals elected.

With policy, we need to educate the culture. They hear us as clanging cymbals. They don’t understand our positions and, quite frankly, we don’t do a good job of explaining and persuading our positions. We just yell a lot. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. 1 Corinthians 13 is clear that we can be nothing more than noise without love and James 3 talks about how we must bridle our tongue. So we are pro-life. Great. Why? Why do we see the “fetus” as a baby? Why do we believe life begins at conception? Why do we call abortion murder? This is just one area, but we do not educate, we do not help people to understand. We must do better.

Finally, and this really needs to happen first, we need to repent for our failings. Now, I cannot tell you what your failings are. I know what mine are. But we need to get on our knees and as forgiveness for we all fail daily. We need to live differently. We cannot be part of the world. They need to see us as set apart unto God.

I firmly believe real lasting change can happen. I also believe these are practical steps toward that end. May God help us, and may Christ be glorified in all that we do.