Romans 6:4 — Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Did you fully understand what was happening when you were baptized?
From time to time these devotions focus on aspects of the Baptist theology expressed in “The Baptist Faith And Message”.
Here’s what article 7 says about baptism:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

Like the Lord’s Supper, It is an ordinance — something which Jesus commanded — and without it, it is not possible to be a full church member or join in the Lord’s Supper. In a way, baptism is key to church fellowship.
I can’t help feeling though, that to understand baptism as no more than a membership requirement is to miss, absolutely, it’s real significance.
It is an act of obedience. Two things — faith, and obedience — are at the heart of the Christian’s life. To be sure they are underpinned by, and flow from, a love of God and fellow Christians but faith and obedience are the visible witness.
Baptism is the believer’s public declaration of faith in a crucified, buried and resurrected Jesus.
Even understanding baptism as a declaration of obedience and faith does not get all the way to the heart. It is when we take in it’s symbolism of our death, burial and resurrection that we penetrate the matter fully.
Jesus’s death was a terrible desperate event. At the end He was forsaken even by God. The agony of “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) cannot be misinterpreted. The burial of our old sinful life is just as stark. The separation is absolute.
The burial, too, was very real. Jesus was laid in the cold tomb of an Arimathean. Our old life, too, must be buried.
The resurrection, too, was very real. There is a song I love to sing that contains the glorious triumphant line “up from the grave He rose again”. In truth, Jesus was lifted up from the grave by His father. Baptism symbolizes the lifting of the believer from the death of sin … Which only God can achieve.
We were privileged to see three new believers baptized at church this evening. Two were quite young. I could not but wonder how much they new of what their actions meant. Do not mistake me. I am not questioning the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life. I just hope, that over time the full wonder of baptism will be opened to them. They are raised in newness of life. May they truly walk in it!