Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good

Romans 12:21 is a powerful verse that is good to remember in your daily life.
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
When I think about this, I think a little bit about Star Wars, a little bit about people I encounter in life and a lot about how to actually overcome evil.

First of all, I should say that I think about the Star Wars with most things in life. You could say, "Hey Nick, pass me that oboe" and I would think about Star Wars. Luckily, though, it does a good job of helping to look at this verse.
One of the main themes of Star Wars was the opposing good and dark sides of The Force. If Jedi's went over to the dark side, they were overcome by evil. This tended to make them wrinkly, have lower voices, wear dark clothes and not have many friends.
I never saw Darth Vader, the Emperor or any other dark side people who had dates or really anyone to hang out with after work. They were very powerful, but were completely overcome by the evil and in the end did not gain anything from it.
It's really the same way in life.
It's easy to get caught up in something evil, or something that's even just not right. I have done that before, and I bet most people have. You get started with it thinking that it's something to try because you can handle it, and before you know it, it takes over and you are left with all kinds of problems. The evil just builds upon itself and it's easy to get lost in all of it.
In my daily life, I come into contact with ideas, temptations and all kinds of things that are kind of evil. I try to ignore them and move past them so that I am not overcome by them, but according to this verse I instead should be trying to overcome them.
God wants me, and wants all of us, to stand up for what is right, be nice and considerate, and to do whatever we can to help. Everyone can do this, and it doesn't have to be in grand gestures like taking on an entire evil empire with just a few small, fast spaceships and Han Solo's old spacecraft.
I can't tell you how many times in my work I talk with people who are extremely mad about something, usually about the place where I work. I could argue with them and get swept up in the anger and bitterness, but I've found it's much easier to just listen for a while, let them talk and tell them I understand why they are frustrated and that I will see what I can do to help. They are usually much happier just because someone took a few minutes to listen to them and acknowledge them.
It's just one example, but think how much better the world would be if instead of people always trying to argue with and overpower the things that they see as evil, people would overcome the evil with good.
We need to help people, we need to do God's work and we need to treat our neighbors as ourselves.
If we can do all of that and try to stay on the good side, we'll be able to accomplish a lot in our lives. We may not blow up a Death Star like Luke Skywalker, but we'll make big differences in people's lives and we'll be doing the will of God, the true force for good.