My husband and I own a farmhouse outside a small town. Whenever we leave how for a few days and then return, one of the first things we do is check the mouse traps to see if there are any dead mice. Most of the time, we don’t really have to examine the traps. Even the tiniest of dead mice, if dead for a number of hours, give off a distinct odor. Left for days at a time, they become so putrid that you can hardly enter the room.

This was the case about a month ago when we returned to our home and found—through the distinct “dead mouse” smell—the tiniest of dead mouse that had met its demise while we were gone.

We had arrived late in the night, so my husband put the dead mouse—trap and all—outside to dispose of later. The problem is, he forgot about it.

The next day proved lovely, so I set up my small wrought iron table and chair in the front yard so I could do my desk work outdoors. Here I was, out in the breeze of a lovely day, but this terrible stench kept wafting by. What was it?

I followed my nose, and it didn’t take long to find the source. That tiny black dead mouse was stinking up the entire front yard. How could such a little thing cause such a terrible stink?

An analogy came to me rather quickly.

This is how we must “smell” to God.

God is completely Holy. So holy He cannot abide in the presence of sin. Sin must be removed from those who wish to stand in His presence.

So, knowing that every single one of us has the stench of sin on us, how can we possibly enter the heavenly home we yearn for? How can we dwell in the house of the Lord forever?

There is only one remedy for the stench of sin: the blood of Jesus. For those who believe that Jesus died for their sins, repent, seek His forgiveness, and desire a Holy life, Jesus removes the stench of sin. In fact, He put it right in the grave. That is where the stench of sin belongs—in the world of death and decay.

When we “put on Christ,” when we believe in Him and ask Him to save us, we are robed in His purity—And wearing this, we can stand in the presence of the Holy One.

When I could stand it no more, my husband came and disposed of that small dead mouse. Shortly after that, its putrid odor was gone. The breeze was clean and pure. And it was a pleasure to sit in the front yard.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old had gone, the new is here! All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.

(2 Corinthians 5:17-19, NIV)