Like so many, I woke up the day after the election to what felt like a changed world. To lay my cards out, I was much more voting against the dangers of another Trump administration than out of enthusiastic embrace of a Harris agenda. Given my evaluation (which I recognize may or may not be shared by everyone reading this) it feels like I awakened to a world that is considerably more unstable, threatening, and at odds with values we treasure.

Even though I had mentally considered the possibility of this kind of electoral outcome, I’m struck by how the results nevertheless hit me like a punch to the gut. The actual reality of the outcome feels very different from what I had imagined.

Yet the more I pray and reflect, and the more I get closer to my Jesus-shaped self, here’s the question that comes to mind: “Curtis, exactly what has changed?”

That’s when I began to ponder questions like:

• “What has changed about my hope that Jesus will return one day as the only Ruler that can decisively address all the grievous wrongs in this world?”
• ”What has changed in God’s invitation to join with Him in the Spirit to intercede for a groaning world (Rom. 8:22-23)?”
• “What has changed the Biblical vision that Christ followers are meant to live in every age as “resident aliens” (1 Peter 2:11) such that we are supposed to feel a sense of alienation from — along with a commitment to serve — our given country?

Nothing has changed on those questions. And those are the questions that will truly, deeply, and eternally shape me, not the momentary question, “Who won the election?”

Consider the other questions that define our lives. For instance:

• Who are you supposed to care for right now, in a sacrificial way?
• What is your appointed role within your school, business, nonprofit, church, or other institution?
• What are you trying to bring into the world that reflects God’s truth, gentleness, beauty, or creativity?
• Who is vulnerable in your community that could be served through your giving or volunteer efforts?

My hunch is that for you, too, your answers to these life-defining questions are the same today as they were before the election. Nothing has changed.

One more thing that hasn’t changed for me, and I hope won’t change for you: whenever I am struggling to make sense of the world, that’s exactly when I need others. That is when I turn to my friends who follow Jesus to share the burden of meaning-making.

And this is why I was so glad that, on the very morning after the election, I could turn to my friends David French and Russell Moore. More than 1,000 of you joined us to watch a live recording of our Good Faith podcast and listened in as we wrestled with big questions and sorted through what has changed — and what has not.

The conversation filled my spirit, and I’m sharing it with you now in hopes it will be one way by which God fills your spirit, too. You can find the link to the live recording here — and please share as widely as you’d like.