Jesus continues His commissioning of His disciples. At this point, He tells them that they are to be like Him. Since the world is judging Jesus, then we should expect the world to judge us. In fact, the world does that to control us. Yet the ways of Jesus run the opposite way from the world. We are not to judge others and we should accept the judgment of God as the only authoritative judgment.

Jesus tells the disciples to take up their crosses and follow Him. A cross in the world's system is a symbol of loss. So when we are accused by the world, we can respond that we are indeed losers in that we have broken shalom (God's peace). Yet in our admission of loss, there is victory. When we have lost our lives, we find it in Christ. Ultimately our worth is found in Jesus. When He sought us out, took our brokenness, and willingly gave up His life so that we can find life in Him. Belonging to Jesus means we are of infinite value to Him.