Godly grief vs. worldly grief

II Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Recently in Sunday school we have been talking about repentance and what it means, so I was especially interested when I read and pondered this verse this morning.  One thing I had been thinking a lot about after our discussion in class was the nature of true or “real” repentance and was there true repentance outside of Christ.  Here was my answer!  Yes, in a sense there is, but repentance outside of godly grief has a totally different result.  If I am repentant in the context of my grief over my spiritual condition, that leads to repentance that produces my salvation.  As we can see in news events from around the world, worldly grief has a far more drastic result.  When I hear of riots resulting from the death of a person that a crowd considers unjust, I am seeing the result of grief from a “worldly” cause, not grief that lead to salvation.  God grief lead to no regrets … worldly grief has a totally different outcome.