"I must catch that mouse!" Mother exclaimed one day.
"Just see how he has been nibbling at this cheese we were going to have for supper!"
So before bed that night Mother carefully set her trap and placed it near the cupboard. Sure enough the next morning there was a fat little mouse in her trap!
"There, now, we shouldn’t have any more trouble with our cheese disappearing," Mother said. But a few days later more cheese was gone again! Thinking of course that it must be another mouse, Mother set the trap once more.
The next morning the trap was empty, but Mother set it again for she felt that she must catch that mouse! Several mornings went by, and no mouse in the trap. Looking into the cupboard, Mother discovered that there was more cheese missing. One whole corner had been nibbled away!
"What a clever little mouse that must be!" Mother thought. "I don’t see how he gets into the cupboard at all. I’ll just have to clean out the whole cupboard and see if he is hiding somewhere inside." So Mother spent a busy day cleaning, but Mr. Mouse was nowhere to be found.
As the days went by the trap was still empty, but the cheese kept on disappearing. One day as she was thinking about it Mother took the cheese down from the cupboard and looked at it carefully. "Mm-m-m! I think I will catch my mouse pretty soon after all!" she said. "Why didn’t I think of that before?"
Calling the children in she said, "I think that I have just about caught my mouse! I have been looking at this piece of cheese, and I see that it hasn’t been nibbled away with sharp little mouse teeth as I thought. Instead it has been one of you! Who has been eating the cheese?"
"I haven’t!" both Jim and Patty said at once.
"How about you, Mary?" Mother asked her smallest daughter who shook her head, "No," but somehow had a very guilty look. "Come here, Mary!" Mary went slowly to Mother and Mother placed the nibbled edge of the cheese against her teeth. The marks exactly fit!
Mary reminds me of many boys and girls who will not admit that they are sinners. They do not see why they need to be saved. But if they will look into God’s Word they will see a picture that exactly fits them! Here is part of it: "There is none that seeketh after God... there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom. 3:11-1211There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:11‑12)). And again, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)).
It is not a nice picture, but when we see that it does fit us, and we tell God so, then God has good news for us! Just listen to this, "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, CHRIST DIED FOR US" (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)).