And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediate from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:13.



Baptism is a symbolic ritual where a new believer is submerged under water for a split second by an ordained pastor, then immediately resurfaces. The act symbolizes Christ's dying for our sins, represented when submerged, then His resurrection is symbolized as one emerges from under the water.



Further meaning to baptism is that when we are immersed, we die to our old, sinful lives and as we resurface, we are reborn into a life with Christ. Baptism signifies our our being "born again" but I should say that it doesn't associate the baptized with the judgmental born again zealots that we often encounter. 



Non believers often see this as a meaningless and archaic ritual but to us Christians, the act holds a very profound significance. "Those who accepted his message were baptized…" (Acts 2:41). For us it means that we have accepted and believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.



Some believe that being baptized alone can save you, which is not true. Although Jesus commands us to be baptized but we cannot be saved by doing things such as baptism. Baptism is important but we must first, trust in Jesus alone and not our own works or deeds but the combination of believing and works will get us to where GOD intends us to be.