The greater the person, the greater his potential for evil.
As our sages note, “When a person is greater than another, his evil inclination is greater as well” (Sukkah 52a).
The fact that a person has a great evil inclination indicates that he can become a great and religious person.
The Hasidic rebbe Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev once inspired a man to repent by telling him, “I envy you.
When a person repents in a spirit of love, his willful misdeeds are accounted as merits.
How great you can become when you repent!”
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz