Just two weeks ago I woke up seeing what looked like a surprising Donald Trump victory start to slip away. I always thought it would come down to Pennsylvania, but I really thought he would pull off Michigan and certainly Georgia. I also thought that AZ was called too early, and that Mr. Trump had a chance to win that. Yet I appear to have been wrong on all those, and at this point, Mr. Trump looks to narrowly lose about the same way that Hillary Clinton did. I’m disappointed with the result, but given the almost certain Biden presidency, there is much to hearten conservative Christians.

First up, let’s just encourage one another not to be sore losers. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party were the most sore of losers for the last four years-denying the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s very legitimate win. Their “I hate Donald Trump more than anything else” led to the fixation and fabrication of Russia, and they were at least as complicit in the toxicity of our public discourse as anything Donald Trump ever said. But in this election, the president and many of his most ardent supporters are routinely crying out that there is fraud in the election, without any proof of any fraud of the wide-scale nature that it would take to overturn the election results reported thus far. The president has certain legal rights and is exercising them. When those rights are exhausted, and if he does not succeed (highly doubtful), we should respect the will of the people and support Mr. Biden as the president. That means we will honor him (but not necessarily his policies) and commit to pray for him as we are commanded.

Second, that doesn’t mean at all that even now we aren’t gearing up to battle. We don’t elect a dictator, and there is no monolithic “government” of Romans 13 that we have to support. We live in a constitutional republic, not a democracy (thank God!) and we have many aspects of government where we can and should exercise influence. Respecting Mr. Biden in no way means rolling over–I think the opposite is the case. Mr. Biden is talking about a mandate, which is a particularly odd way of thinking about these election results. If anything, he has a mandate to do what he campaigned on–the only thing that he campaigned on: “I’m not Donald Trump.” I for one will fully support that mandate–but likely not much else. I am hopeful his tone is less divisive. I am hopeful that Republican opposition will be more measured and responsive to substantive policy differences. Let’s pray for this result.

Third, and related, the Democratic priorities were pretty much clobbered in this election outside Mr. Biden’s apparent eking out of a win. If, as I suspect, the Republicans hold the Senate, while gaining significantly in the house, we will have the opportunity for the Conservative “no” to progressive bad policies. In many other areas (statehouses, statewide propositions) we saw general results that were very favorable. Further, I think we are likely to see Republicans win the house back in two years, especially if progressives insist that “defund the police” and “we embrace socialism” is a viable political strategy. And absent Mr. Trump, we should expect to see Republicans once again become the party of fiscal discipline, better late than never. I also think that Democrats have got to be scared of Mr. Trump’s increase in minority vote total. Republicans must double down on emphasizing the real policy differences that will positively help peoples lives. My favorite is school choice, but there are other policies.

Fourth, it’s getting easier to handle Mr. Trump’s departure when he does things like fire much of the leadership of the Pentagon right after losing an election. In what universe does this make sense as a policy that helps the U.S. as opposed to satisfying one’s ire? And the reported firing of a DHS cybersecurity official yesterday who did not support Mr. Trump’s position of fraud is likewise problematic. These officials must be political appointees, so they serve at the pleasure of the president, and therefore were almost certain to be gone in a matter of a few months anyway. But this speaks to the character of Mr. Trump, and it does not speak well. I do believe there is a “deep state” in the sense that there is a large established bureaucracy that does not support the Trump Administration. But these firings don’t seem to be at all related to that.

It is often said that adversity tests the character of a man. I think all of us are getting that test this year. Many are failing. But many are succeeding. The tenor on this blog is noticeably better this year and more than just from one respondent. We can all improve, but given the election tensions we’ve had, I’m encouraged by your respectful engagement with me, Dr. Smith, and each other.