KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Repentance
"WORLDLY SORROW" MEANS feeling sad because you got caught doing something wrong or because you must suffer the unpleasant consequences of your actions, such as financial loss, a broken marriage, a damaged reputation, or merely nagging guilt...
Any normal person will feel regretful when faced with these circumstances. Before long, however, worldly sorrow dies away, and most people begin to behave just as they did before. Instead of changing their thinking and conduct, they simply try harder not to get caught again. This kind of limited remorse leads only to further grief.
In contrast, godly sorrow means feeling bad because you have offended God. It means sincerely regretting the fact that what you did was morally wrong, regardless of whether or not you must suffer unpleasant consequences. It involves a "change of heart" -- which is possible only when you understand that sin is a personal offense against God himself (2 Chron. 6:37-39; cf. Jer. 31:19). Godly sorrow will not always be accompanied by intense feelings, but it implies a change of thinking, which should lead to outward changes in behavior. (Ken Sande)
KneEmail: "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Cor. 7:9-10).