“Isn’t God love? Surely, He will forgive everything in the end. I believe that no matter how I live, He will hold onto me until the very end.” Many people think this way, assuming that God will unconditionally help us, transcending even our own will. However, the Bible speaks differently: “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts” (Romans 1:24). God does not indefinitely tolerate those who deliberately refuse to acknowledge their wrongs and stubbornly persist in doing evil. The way He stops tolerating them is paradoxical: He grants the requests of those who reject Him, leaving them to remain under the power of sin exactly as they desire.

The expression “to give up” is a strikingly forceful and severe term. In the Bible, this term is used when someone is delivered up to judgment or cast into pits of darkness. When God withdraws His protective and restraining hand from a person, that individual is left to commit sin as they please. Consequently, they advance rapidly toward a state where judgment becomes inevitable. For instance, someone who harbors evil thoughts eventually reaches a stage where they cannot stop. A person who frequently deceives others will find that the habit takes root until they can no longer exercise self-control. Yet, because immediate punishment does not always follow, people often fall into the illusion that they are “fine”. That itself is a fearsome judgment; yet they do not even realize it.

The problem lies within the heart. The heart is easily led by the lusts of the flesh; however, we must restrain these desires. When we fail to do so and allow the lusts of our hearts to manifest outwardly, uncleanness follows. Unfortunately, in many cases, we forsake the righteousness of God to follow the voice of our own hearts. This is the sin itself. Sin attacks the dignity of human beings. God created us in His own image with the expectation that we would maintain the honor befitting that image. Yet, humans do not grieve over being defiled by sin. They tend to worry only about the unpleasant consequences that follow sin, rather than the sin itself.

“Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). A defining characteristic of modern humanism is the unrestrained accommodation of human desires. Humanistic ideologies are rapidly occupying the place where God’s law should rightfully dwell. While people claim to respect human value, their emphasis on human rights has ironically turned injustice, immorality, and ungodliness into something commonplace. Although they speak of upholding human dignity, by rejecting the truth of God—the very source that preserves that dignity—they are, in fact, destroying humanity itself.

God’s act of giving over those fallen into sin is not, in most cases, intended for their eternal abandonment. Even through such means, God desires for them to repent. Humanity has come into this world to repent; perhaps this is our final opportunity. By giving up those who persistently refuse to repent, God allows them to make a final choice: to choose God or to choose hell. “The Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen!” (Romans 1:25). It is not too late to return. Let us follow the truth of God rather than the lusts of our hearts. Let us remember God’s grace and walk in the path where He leads us.