For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7.10
Some people talk as though ‘guilt’ is a bad thing. But if someone steals your wallet, wouldn’t you like them to feel guilt? That might motivate them to return it or at least not repeat the crime in future.
Guilt is like a warning light on your car dashboard. Is that light good or bad? Yes! It’s bad that something’s wrong. But it’s good to have a light telling you that so you can do something.
The ‘something’ our guilt is telling us to do is repent. That’s turning away from sin and back to God. And when we do that, believing that Jesus died for our sins, we can take comfort in God’s grace to us.
This rules out continuing in sin and figuring we’ll just keep saying sorry. The Apostle Paul writes:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6.1-2
So guilt should lead us to grace, and grace should lead us to godliness. Where that’s not happening (e.g. we’re stuck in guilt or stubborn in sin) we need the main ‘G’: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.