Every year as Super Bowl Sunday approaches, something familiar happens. Conversations turn toward matchups and predictions. Schedules get rearranged. People who barely watch football all season still plan to gather, eat, and watch. It is more than a game. It reveals something about us.
Human beings are drawn to competition.
We love the clarity of it. There is a clear goal. Clear rules. A clock. A winner. A loser. In a world that often feels uncertain and unresolved, competition offers structure. For a few hours, everything makes sense. You know what matters, and you know how to tell if it worked.
Competition also gives us identity. Teams become something we belong to. Colors and logos give us language for loyalty. When a team wins, we feel lifted. When they lose, we feel it personally. Even if we never step on the field, we attach our hopes to the outcome. Victory feels shared. Loss feels communal.
Underneath all of that is something deeper.
We want to matter.
We want to know that we are on the right side.
We want to feel secure.
Competition promises those things, but only briefly. The win never lasts. There is always another season. Another game. Another moment where our sense of worth is tested again. What feels certain on Sunday fades by Monday.
Followers of Jesus recognize that longing. Scripture tells us we were made for victory. Not the kind that comes from outperforming others, but the kind that comes from being made right with God. The problem is that we often look for that security in places that cannot hold it.
The gospel offers a different kind of competition story.
Jesus does not win by overpowering his enemies with force. He wins by giving himself. At the cross, sin does its worst. Death takes its shot. Then, in the resurrection, God declares the final result. Sin is defeated. Death is undone. The outcome is settled.
That victory does not need defending.
It does not need repeating.
It does not expire.
For those who follow Jesus, security no longer comes from proving ourselves. It comes from trusting what has already been done. We are not trying to earn a win. We are learning how to live from one.
This changes how we relate to competition. We can enjoy it without depending on it. We can cheer without tying our identity to the outcome. We can lose without despair and win without arrogance. Our worth is not on the line.
So during Super Bowl Sunday week, enjoy the gathering. Enjoy the food. Enjoy the shared experience. But let it point you somewhere deeper. Let it remind you that the greatest victory has already been won. And because of that, you are free.
Free to celebrate.
Free to rest.
Free to live with confidence rooted not in the scoreboard, but in Jesus.
