Mat 10:39 He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.

"Finds" is heurisko, means "to find," "to come upon," "to meet," "to learn," "to discover," and "to find out for one's self."

"Life" is psuche, which means "breath," "life," and "soul." It has the clear sense of the conscous self. It is also used to describe "the spirit" of things.

"Lose" is apollumi , which means "to destroy utterly," "to kill," and "to be lost."

"For my sake" is heneken, which means "on account of" or "for this cause."

The terms used for "find" and "lose" here are not the clear antonyms that they are on English. Heurisko is much closer to "discover" in the sense of meeting someone or learning something. While apollumi is much closer to "destroy."

Even more interesting, the term used for "life" is most often translated in the NY, KJV as "soul."

In the Greek, the meaning of "finds his life" is more like the modern idea of "finding yourself." It has this sense of being self-centered because you are "discovering your consciousness," which comes across as a very "new age" concept, but Christ's turn on it is that if you discover yourself, you are really destroying yourself.

On the other hand, if you destroy your sense of self, you are rally finding your true self.