By Dr. Thurman R. Hayes Jr.

This is the time of year for “March Madness,” the NCAA college basketball tournament. As we watch the teams struggle for the championship, let’s remember college basketball’s greatest coach, John Wooden. There is much we can learn from him.

I believe Wooden was the greatest coach ever, in any sport. He won 10 NCAA titles at UCLA, including seven in a row from 1967-73.

Interestingly, Wooden became UCLA’s coach in 1948 and did not win his first title until 1964. In today’s college basketball culture, he would have been fired before he ever won his first championship! But Wooden was laying a solid foundation for what was to come.

Growing up in Indiana, Wooden was blessed with great parents. One day, when he was in third grade, his father gave him a card on which he had written seven guidelines for life. Wooden would carry that card with him for the rest of his life, which lasted almost a hundred years.

The card said this:

• Be true to yourself.
• Help others.
• Make each day your masterpiece.
• Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
• Make friendship a fine art.
• Build a shelter against a rainy day.
• Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings each day.

Those are all wonderful and wise things, but the one that captivates me is this one: “Make each day your masterpiece.” In other words, seek to make each day an awesome day. But what goes into that?

Jesus was once asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37,39)

The first commandment is vertical: Love God with everything you are and have. How do we love him like this?

First, by trusting him. When we trust God, we bring him great joy. When we trust him the way a little child trusts her parents, he delights in that.

Second, by obeying him. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

The second is horizontal: Love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, in every word and in every deed, treat others the way you would like to be treated.

But here is the deal: All of us have failed to do this. When God created this world, he created a masterpiece. It was a perfect world without sin, and without death. Through our sin we have marred his masterpiece, and from that day on we have failed to love him as we should or love others as we should.

God could have simply given us judgment for our sins, but instead, he gave his Son. The life of Jesus was the perfect masterpiece we could never live, and then he died to take on himself the judgment we deserved. He then rose from the dead, conquering death in our place.

One day he is coming again to renew this broken world and make it a masterpiece once again. Until that day, he is making people new. He can make you new. How? When you turn to Jesus in repentance and faith, you become a new creation. His masterpiece.

Dr. Thurman R. Hayes Jr. is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Suffolk. Follow him on Twitter at @ThurmanHayesJr.