A tiny raft on the open sea would never be the conveyance of choice for a wealthy socialite, but she would give all her jewels for it if the ocean liner on which she has passage is sinking.

The will to live propels even beasts and birds to flee or fight any danger.  Life is our singular treasure.  It holds greater value than all else.  It is the last prize lost because a man may lose his home or business but keep the hope that such things can be restored in time.  A man may lose his health but still retain the outside chance of defeating his illness and getting to dismiss the doctors.  A woman may lose her youth but still employ products which promise a more youthful appearance.  Why?  Because we resist with every fiber of our being the adversary which is death.  We have the will to live.

But once life is lost, no fortune or stroke of luck, no precious stone or status in the world can help.  The sailors with Jonah and those who took ship with Paul when he sailed for Rome jettison everything when their lives were in the balance.  We would do the same.  You wouldn't return to a home engulfed in flame even for the most precious heirlooms.  The only exception might be to save a life because the value of life and the will to conserve it is so fierce.

The difference for Christian saints is that endurance, the will to live is to cling to Christ.

Christ is our Rescuer and Redeemer.  Jesus is our Safe Harbor. our Joy and Crown.  He is the precious stone or Rock against which no storm or force of opposition can prevail.  He is our Healer and our Hope.  He is these things because Christ Himself is Life itself.  "He is the true God and eternal life." (1 John 5:20)

The difference for Christians is that our will to live is not shown in hanging tightly to the driftwood of this world or grabbing for the flotsam and jetsam which passes by.  Our motivation is not the accumulation of treasure on earth.  Our celebrating is not in a great economy nor bewailing every plunge in the Dow.  Our desire is not merely that luck gives us a few more breaks or a few more years.  Besides, what need have we of them?

Christ, The Life, has come into the world.  What our willpower, wishes, or longings, no matter how strong, could never have secured, He gave to us.  Where no shred of our desire or strength of character could provide or hold to life, His life took hold of us.  He lavished life upon us by His resurrection from the dead.  He furnished our will to live with the object of a genuine hope.

The human will to live was finally made authentic by Christ's will to suffer and die. 

You see, the will to live in the world is really only the will to live without Christ.  It is the will to postpone death, to deny its inevitability, to conceal its approach by stocking up as many riches, amusements, and distinctions as one can in a few years.  The will to live is defiance of The Life and to deny any blessing in the coming death.

It is quite the opposite for Christians.  The will of a Christian is redeemed right along with his heart, soul, and body.  Now, for the baptized, the will to live is a desire to live only in the death and resurrection of Christ.  It is to know how blessed are the dead - the dead "in Christ."

In Christ, the dead are at rest.  The Christian dead are "in the Lord."  Not just those believers who lie in their graves, but we as well, who have been united through baptism with Christ in His dying and rising, are blessed.  Our blessing is not a mere survival we come through by the skin of our teeth while all else is lost.  In dying nothing is lost.  Indeed, death is gain.  (Phil. 1:21) 

The ship of the church is not lost.  The house built upon The Rock, though touched by storm and menaced by high seas, stands firm.  Our will is to live there!  The Christian not only survives but thrives.  His deeds follow him.

The Christian will to live is the desire to be with Christ.  It looks forward even to our dying because blessed, blessed indeed, are those who die in the Lord.

The will to live is not dimmed by Christ.  In fact, the will to live really has its beginning in Him.  What the world regards as a ferocious will to live is really only hope against hopeless hope.

The new will to live received in Christ is to live by Christ's righteousness.  The will to live yearns to return daily to His death and rising.  The will to live even longs for a death we know Christ will use for our blessing - to bring us home where His life for us exceeds all we could ever have hoped or dreamed.