My favorite NFL football team, the Denver Broncos, thumped the LA Rams in their final preseason game–a contest that mostly nobody cared about, except maybe the guys on both sides who are trying to make their teams. In any case, coming off their worst regular season that I can remember, it’s hard to have high hopes for the Broncos’ new season, which starts in two weeks. But still, I do.

You see, at this time of year, right before the season starts, my team has the same win/loss record as every other team. Looking at moves they made in the offseason, including bringing in one of the best coaches in league history, you can talk yourself into believing they will be the changes needed to take your team back to the playoffs.

But unfortunately, if the last several seasons are any indicator, at some point in the next few months, my hope will probably be dashed upon the rocks of reality. Most likely, I will mutter the phrase shared by frustrated sports fans around the world: “Oh well, there’s always next season.”

Who cares? Why am I talking about this?

Well, let me tell you why. Because as followers of Christ, we have something better than a football team (or anything else) to hang our hopes on. According to the author of Hebrews:

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

Hebrews 6:19 (NIV)

“Firm and secure” means that no matter what happens, we can continue to hope in Jesus. He will not fumble the ball or miss a field goal or do anything else to lose the game in the final seconds.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite. At the crucifixion, it seemed that all was lost. The one who was supposed to be the savior of the world had suffered a mockery of a trial, a severe beating, and a vicious execution. His closest friends and followers had lost their hope. It seemed like Satan had won.

But in the ultimate unexpected comeback, Jesus rose from the dead! He did not just squeak out a win–he crushed Satan in the most decisive victory in history. This was an even more impressive thumping than the Broncos gave the Rams last night. Now Satan is afraid of Jesus. That’s why he manufactures so many lies to try to keep us away from our Savior.

What does this mean for us? Well, one cool thing about it is that Jesus gives us His victory. As sports fans, when our team wins, we get some level of satisfaction from it, but it’s not really our victory. It belongs to the team, not us. It doesn’t generally change anything for us in our lives.

But the victory Jesus gives us does change our lives. He gives us victory over Satan, over sin and death. As Paul the Apostle describes in his first letter to the church at Corinth:

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 (NIV)

If you’re anything like me–if you’re a human being–you probably get wrapped up in the concerns of the day. Your job, your family, your home. The economy. The fate of your country. And so on. There are many pressing matters that seem pretty important and urgent. And in some ways, they are.

But ultimately, these concerns will generally fade into oblivion. For example, I honestly couldn’t tell you what was most concerning to me 10 years ago today. Probably not even 5 years ago. So why do I–why do we–let the troubles for today consume so much of our thoughts? We probably won’t remember them 5 or 10 years from now.

What we should focus on is how the story ends. Sure, God will take the work we are doing on His behalf today and bless it, but that will still not make it matter as much as the ultimate victory He has given us through Jesus. He has given us His victory over sin and death. He has given us eternity in His presence.

As Paul goes on to tell his friends in Corinth:

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Conrinthians 15:55-57 (NIV)

With that in mind, we should take a little pressure off ourselves. Let’s hang our hopes on Jesus. He will not disappoint. He’ll come through better than any professional sports team or job or politician or friend. He wins in the end, and we can win with Him.