We speak a great deal about the grace of contentment. But there is a discontent that can be healthy, and that of course would be a discontent with the level of Christian maturity in your life.
But even here we must be extremely careful. I said that this discontent can be healthy, but most of the time it is actually a sin compounding the problems caused by your other sins.
First, the healthy discontent. Little children should want to grow, they should be eager for it. Within bounds, they should be looking forward to the time when they are taller, stronger, faster, when they have the capacity to know and do more than they can at the present. And when you see a ten-year-old frustrated with the limitations of being ten, and pushing against how long this whole process is taking, your response to this is to think of it as endearing. You certainly encourage the child—take heart, it is going faster than you think. First thing you know, you’ll be there.
This is how God thinks of us, this is how He encourages us. Take heart. You are being grown up into the perfect man, into the image of Jesus Christ, and these things take time. Always remember that God loves to take His sweet time.
Overt sin, clear sin—malice and hatred, lust and covetousness, spite and anger—are rebellions, not immaturities. Confess them now, drop them now, be done with them now. Don’t give yourselves ten years in which to try to phase these things out of your life. Decisive repentance is all that is called for.
This Table is to be thought of primarily as food, not primarily as medicine. Don’t come here expecting the food to “fix you,” but rather to grow you. When you sin, repent at that time. When you come to worship God, confess your sins at the door. When you sit down at the Table here, you have already been washed, you have already been cleansed. So eat and be nourished. Drink and be satisfied.