Oh Snap! Let's be like Christ

Discipline sucks. I know. I always say I will run/workout, but I never do. I end up not running and eating chips. I know, I know. I am terrible and should run. You are correct, but my discipline sucks, as stated before. I have recently begun thinking about discipline, and how it relates to our daily lives and walk. How would our lives look if we actually practiced a Christlike discipline? What I mean by this is how would our lives look if we really lived like Christ. Think about it for a second. Take it in and actually think about it. Convicting stuff isn't it? It is tough stuff to look ourselves in the mirror and come to terms with us not living a life that reflects Christ. I would say about 30% of our daily lives (I'm talking conversation, speech, actions, lifestyle, personality even) are spent living like Christ. I mean that isn't exactly an accurate figure, but I would say it is a close estimate of most Christians. That means 70% of our lives are exuding an attitude not of Jesus. Eesh. Look at Christ. He expelled love, grace, mercy, compassion, patience, etc. in the toughest of situations all the time, so should we. Our Savior got beaten, torn, broken, crucified, cursed. For what? Of course for our sins, but He did nothing wrong accordingly to the law. He could have been angry, yelling, cursing, any terrible thing you can think of. I mean if anyone had a right to be mad, it would be Him. We get cut off in traffic, and we flip people off. We have a problem with someone so we call them some sort of obscenity. Is that actions that a holy Christ would have done? Absolutely not! He was set apart, therefore we also should be. What kind of Christlike attitude are we showing with that kind of behavior. None. Again I say...convicting. This all applies to myself as well. It is something I have been focusing on for about a month now, and it hurts to look at yourself in a bad light. To say "I have not been living like Christ" stings. I also believe things like this take practice and patience. You must work on one thing at a time. For me and my girlfriend, we have been watching our mouthes. What I mean by this is anything unpleasant, gossip, any kind of language that exudes malice (check out James 3). Trust me it is tough, but we are working on it and it's getting better. That is just one example. If you have trouble loving people, practice complimenting strangers, giving people that extra smile. Trust me, it helps. Also, I believe if we do not practice things like this and are not being like Christ, hypocrisy creeps in. I hate nothing more than hypocrisy among believers. It is disgusting. Makes me sad to say it, but I would guess that there are more hypocritical believers than actual Christlike believers. Yikes. That is not a good thing. How do we attract unbelievers when we act like them? Why would they want what we have when we are no different than them? I see hypocrisy all the time and it is a problem. No, it is not ok to get drunk and then think it is fine to go to church the next day and "repent". No, it is not fine to have sex with a boyfriend/girlfriend then "get right" at church. Lame. Let us live a life free of hypocrisy and full of a Christlike behavior. Sorry for the hypocrisy rant. I just hate it...a lot. Anyway, this thing called "discipline" is tough. Living like Christ is tougher. Let us be disciplined to live a life that is actually like Christ. Not sometimes, all the time. Discipline in running is a mental thing, discipline in a Christlike attitude all the time is a heart thing. We can do it believers!