A symbol torn away from the transcendent experience that generated it is a morbid thing. It has died as surely as the body dies once the heart is torn out. A defunct symbol only grows more ghastlier the more desperately we labor to disguise its death with the pretense of life. Theodore Roszak

A symbol, in its intended state, induces the memory of or call to an experience that transcends words. It can be the smell of clover mixed with carnations that recalls boyhood play in a southern field. Perhaps it is the sound of those specific bells played at the beginning of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life that calls us to meditate on the meaning of Christmas – and life. It might be the symbol of the cross or crucifix, which can evoke a deep reverence for Jesus’ love and the call he placed on us to deny ourselves and carry our own cross – daily.

If we are not careful, however, we can lose the meaning and experience of the symbol even when it presents itself to us. The smell of clover becomes a nuisance as we dread pushing the mower through it for an hour. Those bells that announce the beginning of a favorite movie now trigger boredom and the search for something new. And the cross becomes nothing more than trinket jewelry dangling from every ear and neck.

In a larger sense, this same thing can happen with us. We ourselves are the image of God, created in His image and intended to be His likeness in the world. When we encounter another human being, what we should see – what we should experience – is the presence of God himself. Even in the least of these as Jesus later says he is in Matthew 25. And focusing just on ourselves, in him we live and move and have our being as Paul says later in the Book of Acts. We are the image of God – the imago dei – and we can be that fully when we find our purpose, meaning, and hope in Him. 

But when we forget. When we no longer see ourselves as we truly are – as His image – we are a symbol torn away from the transcendent experience that generated it – and we become a morbid thing. We are dead to things of the spirit. And the longer we remain in this state, the more desperately we labor to disguise our death with the pretense of life. 

This is what the Bible calls sin. We are missing the mark. We lose our connection to the transcendent God who created us and lives in us. His light fades and we now live in darkness, crawling around and blindly searching for distractions to our plight.

Today, we will be focusing on this lost state – especially as it pertains to those of us who don’t realize it because we still bear the symbol of His image, but we have yet to realize that the fullness of its meaning – of its transcendent experience with the divine – has been torn away. And the only way back – is metanoia. Repentance.

Source Scripture

Matthew 11:16-19; Luke 7:31-35

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Extras

The Awestruck Podcast musical playlist 
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