For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. ESVUK

Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets. The Message

Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot stand out as working models-respectively illustrating ”godly grief” and ”worldly grief.”

‘On the night of the Last Supper, Peter followed Jesus to the high priest’s house, where he proceeded to deny three times that he’d ever known Jesus. On realizing what he had done, Peter went out and cried like a baby. That was the first step towards the restoration that came with Jesus’ appearance to him (Luke 24.34; 1 Corinthians 15:5) and the remarkable conversation with Jesus by the lakeshore (John 21.15-19). His sadness led him to repentance, and that was a cause, ultimately, for rejoicing. On the other hand, Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, showing the high priest’s servants where to find him in the dark, was plunged into the darker depths of the world’s way of sadness. In Matthew’s account, he flings down the money he’d been paid at the feet of the chief priests, and goes off and hangs himself (Matthew 27.5). Two types of sadness; two end results.’ Tom Wright.