Light and Dark

Sirius Black (Gary Oldman): We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.---Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

In this scene from the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry talks about his internal struggle between good and evil. His godfather Sirius Black is showing him his own family tree with the blacked out faces of those that his parents felt disgraced the family. Harry knows it is a real possibility with all he has been through, there may be more evil than good in him. This quote is Sirius's response to Harry's concerns.

Here is the video clip from the movie. And I apologize if there is an advertisement, it seems you can't upload a youtube video anymore without getting ads.

Good and evil exist in the world. And unfortunately they exist within us as well. Every one of us has the same internal struggle as Harry.
Do you ever feel it? The struggle between good and evil?
Each one constantly vying for control of your life?

I don’t know about you, but I’m with Harry, it frightens me to think that there is so much bad within in, that I might not be able to fight it off. What if I’m destined to just be evil?

If I were still living apart from God, then that would be a real possibility.

Thankfully, I am not.

Once we allow Him into our heart, mind, and lives, our chances of fighting against the evil we are prone to do are better. With the sacrifice of Christ on our side, we are not powerless. His death opened the way for us to rise above the evil and do what’s right, if we so choose.

Galatians 5:17 (NLT) The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions

Because we still have both within us, we must always choose.

Every day, like Harry, we will still have feelings of anger. Sometimes we fail and doubt there is any good at all. It doesn't mean we are ultimately only bad people, or destined to be evil.

There is a difference between making a mistake, and choosing to do evil.

Sirius assures Harry that he is not destined to be bad. Eventually, with the help of those around him, Harry will choose to fight those evil urges and the good inside him will prevail.

And who he is meant to be will emerge.

With the power of Christ in us, we can so the same.

It is all in the choice.

Good or evil.
Right or wrong.
God or the world.

Whichever we choose, shows us who we really are.