The "gods" that will never forgive...

'When people say, “I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself,” they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important to them than God’s. Idols function like gods in our lives, and so if we make career or parental approval our god and we fail it, then the idol curses us in our hearts for the rest of our lives. We can’t shake the sense of failure.'

Tim Keller: Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters