The 2024 election is over. After years of campaigning, two assassination attempts, a change at the top of the Democrat party ticket, endless fact-checking, countless polls, and spending almost $16 Billion, Americans finally made their choice.

That choice was to remove political power from the Biden-Harris administration and to return it to former president Donald Trump. That decision will create joy for some, and despair for others.

Here are five ways every Christian can respond regardless of how you feel about the results.

1. Pray

One of the few explicit commands in the Bible about political engagement is the demand to pray for our leaders. “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

This passage means that former President Trump—now, President-Elect Trump—needs your prayers. Some Christians reading this are expecting the Trump administration to be a rousing success. Some are expecting it to destroy the foundations of our Republic.

Regardless, 1 Timothy traces the blessings of national life, not back to the national leader, but to the God who answers the prayers of his people. We all need the Trump administration to accomplish good, so we must be obedient to pray.

2. Invest in Your Family and Church

Politics is important, but probably not as important as we often make it out to be. Much more important than one vote for president are the weekly and daily investments we make in the people with whom we live life.

Now that the election is over, we need to make certain we are investing in the relationships that matter most. Go out on a date with your spouse, play with your kids and grandkids, talk about the things that matter for eternity. Get excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plan next summer’s vacation.

You should also make plans to go to church this week. Engage the people who are helping you live this crazy life, raise your hands in worship to the living Christ, take notes on the sermon, join a Bible study. Every single one of those things will matter more in eternity than any ballot you cast for president.

3. Share the Gospel with Someone Who Needs Jesus

No matter your opinion of the Trump administration, it is not going to return righteousness to our land. Only Jesus can do that, and he won’t do it with an election. He does it as he draws men and women to himself. We are living in a time of tremendous lostness. Many of your friends, neighbors, and family are without hope and without God in the world.

Too many Christians spend far more energy stewing about politics than sharing Christ. That can change this week. Begin to pray for that loved one in your life who does not know Jesus and plan to share Christ with them as soon as you can.

4. Patch Up a Disagreement with a Loved One

In our coarsening culture, we are losing the ability to maintain loving relationships in the face of principled disagreement. It does not need to be this way. It is possible for you to possess real love for people who made a different political decision than you.

Right now, you can stop what you’re doing and write a note, call, or send a text to that person who has frustrated you. You can let them know you love them and don’t want even your important differences to define your relationship. You can ask them to lunch or coffee.

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Why not take this passage out for a spin with a broken relationship?

5. Invest in Pro-Life Causes

I’m supremely grateful for the failure of the pro-abortion measure on the ballot in Florida. But we still live in a world where millions of unborn babies desperately need rescue. Donald Trump has promised to be of much greater help to those children than Kamala Harris, but he is far from perfect. More than that, all over the nation, statewide regulations limiting abortion are being defeated.

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, babies in the womb are at greater risk than ever.

As Christians, we need to make a personal investment in this problem. Why not reach out to the crisis pregnancy center in your area and ask how you can volunteer or give? Why not adopt a baby? Why not have one?

Christians must realize that being pro-life in these dark days is going to require a much larger investment than a vote for president every four years. That investment can begin right now. It can begin with you.

The Simple Truth

After all the doom and gloom, worry, and apocalyptic pronouncements, the election is over. This post-election season will prove, again, that life has a stubborn way of continuing. All of us need a renewed commitment to invest in our life and in the people we are living it with. I pray these five steps help you do that.