replacing evil with good

“As one that greatly desires the salvation of men, let me remind you all to strive with godly zeal for virtue, holiness, and the commandments of the Lord. Be good, be wise, be just, be liberal; and above all, be charitable, always abounding in all good works. And may health, peace and the love of God our Father, and the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord be and abide with you all, is the sincere prayer of your devoted brother and friend in the everlasting Gospel.”

“Be meek and lowly, upright and pure; render good for evil. … Be humble and patient in all circumstances of life; we shall then triumph more gloriously.”

“We feel to exhort our brethren with boldness, to be humble and prayerful, to walk indeed as children of the light and of the day, that they may have grace to withstand every temptation, and to overcome every evil in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -J. Smith

we read this quote today in r.s. from the joseph smith manual, and i felt it was such a wonderful rally cry for us to continue forward. i was especially struck by the line "render good for evil", which is reminiscent of the Savior's command to turn the other cheek, but goes further in connoting a trading in- taking the evil that may come our way and deliberately changing it, or replacing it for something good. i'm curious about what this process looks like in our own lives, how exactly do we accomplish this? i realize that one thing that is crucial in doing this is having the spiritual reserve/strength to 'resist evil' and to instead turn it to good. when we are weak this process is near impossible (at least in my experience). another thought is that something cannot be transformed from dark to light without a purifying process. it is my opinion that that purification can only take place through the Savior. perhaps if we are actively keeping our covenants to act as He would and carry His name we can be capable of accessing the atonement as a source of power in this process of transformation. anyhow. sunday afternoon ramblings.