Godly sorrow

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10
There is a big difference between what Paul calls here, ‘godly sorrow’ and ‘worldly sorrow’. Sorrow is an emotion, linked with guilt, feeling sad about something you have done. In the case of worldly sorrow, usually it only comes out when we start to receive the consequences of our actions. For instance, a thief only starts to feel sorrow when he gets caught. Worldly sorrow is feeling sorry for oneself. It is a self-focus, feeling sad that I am now worse off because of what I did. Someone might feel sorry for what they did, but only because of what the consequences brought, not because the thing they did was wrong. Worldly, self-focused sorry ultimately leads to depression, and if there is no turning to God for forgiveness, the result is eventually death.
However, godly sorrow involves the realisation of sin and how it affects God, not just how the consequences of sin affect us. Jesus Christ died for every single sin we have committed and will commit in the future. When we contemplate the agony He endured on our behalf, and how the Father turned His back on His only Son because sin is so repugnant to Him, it is then we start to get a glimpse of just how despicable our sin is. This realisation leads to seeking forgiveness from God, which He promises to grant (1 John 1:9). Having then received forgiveness, there is life and hope. Thus the outcome of godly sorrow is completely the opposite to worldly sorrow.
We see examples of godly sorrow in the Scriptures. David realised his sin with Bathsheba was not against Uriah, her husband, whom he had had killed, but against the Lord (2 Sam. 12:13). The people Peter preached to on the day of Pentecost were ‘cut to the heart’ and wanted to know how they could be saved (Acts 2:37). Godly sorrow is productive - it draws us closer to the Lord.