Millions of Americans will turn their attention this afternoon to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the site of Super Bowl XXXVII. (A quick way to make something seem more important than it is: add a string of Roman numerals after its name.)

As astounding as this may seem to many of us, there are tens of millions of people around the world for whom Super Bowl Sunday isn’t even a blip on the radar screen. They have never so much as heard of the Oakland Raiders or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — indeed, they may never have heard of Oakland, California, or Tampa Bay, Florida, nor seen even a single down of American-style football. No matter what the outcome of the contest, their lives will go on as though Super Bowl XXXVII had never occurred.

There is another conflict under way in which every person on earth has a stake, whether he or she realizes it, or simply ignores it altogether. Like football, it is a game of ground acquisition and control, only the playing field is not Qualcomm Stadium or Network Associates Coliseum or Raymond James Stadium, or any other edifice built by human hands. It is a scrimmage being waged without colorful uniforms or logo-emblazoned helmets. No excited fans or cheerleaders root for either side. Not a single commercial endorsement is on display while the game goes on. But unlike the Super Bowl, whose outcome will be a trivia question in a week or two and will never be of interest to the majority of humankind, this tilt bears eternal consequences.

This clash is not contested only by burly men with massive muscles, lightning-quick feet, or powerful passing arms. The strength of those who engage in it is not measured by their time in the 40-meter dash or the amount of weight they can bench press. Rather, they are called to be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” They stand, not for the National or American Football Conference, but against “the wiles of the devil.” They must prevail, not only on Super Bowl Sunday, but in every “evil day” when temptation and trial threaten their very existence.

None of the participants wears cleated shoes or shoulder pads. Their equipment is far more specialized: a belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, shoes fashioned from study of the gospel of peace, a helmet of salvation. Instead of relying on knee braces or flak jackets for protection, they carry before them the shield of faith, which can extinguish the fieriest of assaults. Their weapon is not an ovoid bladder covered in animal skin, but the very word of Almighty God Himself.

Why do they need all this armor, these mighty warriors? Because they “do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Their warfare is not physical, nor is it conducted in physical locations. Their purpose is “pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

The ground they seek to possess, you see, is not the lushly manicured gridiron of an NFL field. It is the souls of men and women lost in sin, souls “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). The reward for which they battle is infinitely more precious than the Vince Lombardi Trophy and every dollar in ticket and advertising revenue reaped by all thirty-seven Super Bowls combined. It is “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

The truly Big Game is ongoing. The struggle is fierce, but the outcome is certain. There’s only one question remaining to be resolved:

Which side are you on?