Matthew 16:25:
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
Sanjo liked structure and he planned his days, managed outcomes, and felt safest when everything was predictable. Even in the place of prayer, he also tried to guide God on how He should answer his prayers, presenting options, timelines, and preferred results. When an unexpected disruption unsettled his plans, frustration rose.
One evening, as he sat with unanswered questions, he realized that he had trusted his control more than God’s sovereignty and so that night, he prayed a different prayer, not to fix the situation, but to release it. After doing do, peace followed surrender.
Self-preservation is natural to because we love control, we want certainty, and want to be sure of security. Yet Jesus is presenting a paradox at the heart of discipleship which is: whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it.
In the Kingdom, control is not power, surrender is.
Dying to self means relinquishing the illusion we know best, yielding our plans, strategies, and safeguards into the hands of a faithful Father. Control feeds anxiety while surrender births rest. As long as self insists on being in control, the life of Christ remains constrained.
Jesus Himself modeled this surrender, entrusting His will fully to the Father, even unto death. In doing so, He unlocked resurrection life. Likewise, when we release control, we don’t become passive, we become aligned and God’s life flows most freely through yielded vessels.
True life is not found in managing outcomes but trusting God with them. The more self loosens its grip, the more Christ’s life takes over, bringing peace, clarity, and enduring fruit.
Practical Application
Today, consciously release one outcome you have been trying to control and entrust it fully to God in prayer.
Confession
I release my need for control into the hands of God. I trust the wisdom of the Father above my understanding. I surrender my plans, my timelines, and my outcomes. As I lose my life in Christ, I receive His life in fullness. I walk in peace, alignment, and resurrection life through surrender.
Related Scriptures: Matthew 16:25, Proverbs 3:5–6, Luke 22:42, Romans 12:1–2, John 6:38, Psalm 37:5
Weekly Bible Reading: Genesis 3
