“Today, we are called to be faithful to Jesus in the age of Trump. And that task may actually be harder. Why? Because the lines between Christian principle and Trump’s policies are drawn in different and unfamiliar places, and because many conservative Christians belong to the party that Trump now leads.”

I’m not a betting man, and it’s a good thing I’m not. I would have bet that anyone other than Donald Trump would win the Republican nomination. And after his surprise victory, I would have bet that Hillary Clinton would beat him in the general election.

Yet here we are, on the eve of Inauguration Day 2017 when Donald J. Trump will become the 45th president of the United States.

I know many Christians, some who voted for Trump and some who did not, who were preparing themselves for a Hillary Clinton presidency. They were preparing for new threats to religious liberty, the potential for hardening the Supreme Court’s commitment to abortion, and the possibility of Sexual Revolution ideology being enshrined into law. They were ready for Christian witness in the age of Clinton, only to discover that God’s plan was different.

Today, we are called to be faithful to Jesus in the age of Trump. And that task may actually be harder. Why? Because the lines between Christian principle and Trump’s policies are drawn in different and unfamiliar places, and because many conservative Christians belong to the party that Trump now leads.

So what will faithfulness in the Trump era look like? Here are four words of caution for believers today that should apply to you, no matter how you voted.

1. Don’t let your personal feelings trump your prayers.

If we are to be faithful in the age of Trump, we must be united in prayer. Paul urged “that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority.” Our prayer life demonstrates our “godliness and dignity,” and it “pleases God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2:1-3, CSB).

Praying for the president is not optional. It is a discipline that God uses to temper our rhetoric and grant us a measure of compassion and respect for whoever is in the White House, even when faithfulness may require resistance and dissent. Such was the case during the Obama era and the same must be true for Trump.

2. Don’t let party priorities trump Christian principles.

Recent studies show that your party affiliation has a gradual impact on the positions you take. For example, people who join the Republican Party tend, over time, to become more pro-life. People who belong to the Democratic Party tend, over time, to support stricter gun control laws. Party affiliation plays a large role in the political positions we believe, first, to be plausible, and then, later, to be right.

This phenomenon happens at a speed that can be disorienting. There was a time when many Democratic leaders were pro-life (Ted Kennedy, Dick Gephardt, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore). There was a time when many Republican leaders (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush) had views on immigration that were strikingly different than the position of President-elect Trump.

Words like “conservative” and “liberal” can shift over time, taking on new connotations. Different political priorities and perspectives that were once on the margins can, in the span of a few months, suddenly become plausible. Party affiliation and the high hopes for a new president can lead people to change their principles.

The danger is that the same can happen with Christians.

For example, one of the intriguing aspects of today’s political alignment is the fact that the party with the most unabashedly pro-life platform includes politicians who champion the use of torture as a legitimate and morally upright act in today’s world. When Christians who are staunchly and rightfully pro-life go wobbly when it comes to Christianity’s ethical stance on torture, it’s likely we are seeing party pressure at work.

The danger, in this and every era, is that we would bend our principles or sideline our Christian ethics or excuse injustice or minimize sinful behavior in favor of good standing within a political party. If we’re not alert to this temptation, our allegiance to a party will trump our Christian principles by blinding us to the places where our party is not in line with Scripture. This happens regularly on both the right and the left, and so all Christians must be vigilant.

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