Godly Sorrow or Worldly Sorrow?

There is one thing for certain, without the Spirit of God convicting us of sin, and without us being sorry for that sin there is no way to be truly saved. Without truly being sorry for sin, there is absolutely no way to repent. Many people intend to make things right with the Lord sometime later in life, but they are not considering the fact that except they are drawn, they can not come. Even still, there are those that believe they can recite a prayer and everything is taken care of. Oh how terrible this is, to be so deceived into believing that you are headed to a place of eternal joy and happiness, only to find that you were wrong at the end. But I would like to focus on a different subject in this post however.I want to look at the difference between two different sorrows: worldy and godly.
There is another deception going on in the church and that is the deception that says sorrow equals repentance. We forget about God, we go weeks without talking to Him, we make it to church when we have the time and then when we do make it we're only there out of routine, ritual or a feeling of obligation. But then some kind of trial comes. Maybe our bank account zeros out or maybe we lose a loved one, and then all of a sudden we try and run to God to fix it all. We cry, we grieve, we mourn; we even say we're sorry for not being the "Christian" we needed to be, but there is no real repentance. There is just a feeling of worldly sorrow. We are sorrowful because of the trouble we are in. We are heavy in heart, due to the suffering we are going through. I am not saying that God hasn't used situations to open our spiritual eyes to our condition. There have been many people that have hit rock bottom just to realize that they can't do it on their own. To realize that they are in need of a Savior.
But the difference between worldy sorrow and godly sorrow is that godly sorrow acknowledges the fact that you have sinned against a holy God. It brings you to the realization that you are in fact guilty of breaking God's law. In 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, Paul is dealing with the sorrow that the Corinthians felt after receiving his letter. He said, "I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance:". This is the key, sorrow to repentance. The next verse says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Could we maybe realize that just crying to God when we are in trouble, when we have forgotten to even mention His name for so long, is not the kind of sorrow that is needed to receive full salvation?
Let me say here, that God's people can always cry out to God in times of trouble (Psalm 50:15). We can cry out to God in times of trials because we have a relationship with Him. The promise is given, that his eyes are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their cry, but this promise is only to His children.
The next time you find yourself crying out to God, ask yourself why and when? Why are you crying out? Is it just for God to fix your problems without even worrying whether or not God gets glory? And when? When is the last time you spoke with Him? When is the last hour that you have spent in His presence? These questions must be asked, and then approach the Lord in the manner that He would have you do. God bless!