Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The paradox of life and loss: the one who clings to life (preserves, protects, manages the self to ensure its survival) will lose it; the one who loses life for Jesus' sake will find it. Matthew 16:25 repeats this saying in the context of Peter's rebuke and the first passion prediction. John 12:24–25 uses the grain-of-wheat image: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The self that is surrendered for Jesus' sake is not destroyed but transformed; the self that is preserved against all cost is the self that loses the only life worth having.

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