Our best intentions to act in God-honoring ways can be defeated by automatic responses of our bodies which have been trained over our lives in a broken world.
By filtering, boiling, and diluting, in partnership with God our thoughts can be purified and our thinking transformed so that we can grow to have a mind like Jesus.
Transformation of our thoughts begins with realizing that our ideas, images, information, and our ability to think have been deeply contaminated by the world around us and by ourselves.
Is it just for the religious curve-wreckers, the savants, or the 'freaks' or is it offered to anyone who will come to Jesus, join him in the yoke, and learn from him as his apprentice?
I'm pretty nice, and lots of people -- even irreligious people -- I know are pretty nice. Why do I need to deeply change? I like my life the way it is.
We are told to read the Bible, study it, memorize and meditate on it, and teach it to others. But why? What is it intended to DO to us and in us? What is it's SO WHAT?
His statements about himself, the titles he used for himself, and the actions he did all point vividly to the conclusion he wanted listeners to conclude he was claiming to be the promised Messiah, the Son of Man from Daniel 7, the eternal Son of God.