Luke 9:23-24
And He was saying to them all, ” If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

The word translated “save” in this passage, is the Greek word sozo. It not only means saved but it also means to be healed, delivered, restored. When the woman with the issue of blood was healed in Mark 5, Jesus said that her faith had healed her (the KJV says her faith made her whole). The word He used there was sozo. In James 5 where it says the prayer of faith will heal, or restore the sick, once again the word used was sozo. Sozo carries with it the idea of being fully restored, wholeness. When you study the Word, particularly the ministry of Jesus, it becomes evident that God’s will for us is to be fully restored, to be made whole to be sozo’ed.

What is not obvious is how to reach that place of wholeness. The are all sorts of religions, philosophies that have a method for reaching that place of wholeness. They all have one thing in common. Being whole is something you achieve through some effort, some ritual, some sort of spiritual gymnastics. Christianity is different. In Christianity we have a Savior who already fulfilled the requirements for us. In Christianity, you gain by letting go. Jesus said that if you try to save, hold onto your life you will lose it. The only way for your life to be whole is to let go of it, to release it to Him. Another way of saying this is that the key to wholeness is to be lost in Him.

God offers a full, whole life. In John 10, Jesus says that He came that we might have an abundant life. The Amplified Bible says that He came that we might have life to the full, till it overflows. How do we get there? We give Him our life, and He gives us His in return.

The very thing you are holding onto is the very thing that is standing in the way of your receiving the abundance that God has for you. God is not looking to withhold. Ps 84:11 says, “no good thing will He withhold from those that walk up rightly.” I encourage you to make the exchange. Give Him all of you. In return He will give you all of Him. It’s the best deal ever.