Baptism, how important is it?

In the past month or so I have been wrestling with the place of baptism in faith. I have been particularly challenged to consider the differences and similarities between baptism, and confirmation. I have heard a number of different views on the subject, from the idea of not being baptised as not being saved to the idea of baptism as symbolic, but not essential. At the moment I am leaning towards the symbolic but not essential end of the spectrum. A number of people that I care deeply about either been confirmed, or not baptised at all, and I find it very hard to consider them to be 'less' saved or Christian than me. I mean, what does a bit of water really do anyway? I believe it is all about the decision made to follow Jesus, not about the ceremony. Don't get me wrong, I think that baptism is a great way of saying to the world, 'hey, this is who I want to live my life for', but I think that how we live our lives is way more important.

I found a bit in the bible, Luke Ch3 v7-10ish, where Jesus criticises people for getting baptised because it's the popular thing to do, suggesting that it is our lives that must change, and that a bit of water isn't going to do anything. I know that Jesus says, in other places, get baptised, but I know heaps of people who have been baptised, and it hasn't impacted their lives. I'm not sure that being baptised impacted me that much either. I mean, I had already decided to follow Jesus, that water just demonstrated my decision. Okay, maybe I haven't considered the Holy Spirit in this, but the spirit is amongst us without the necessity of baptism.

Okay, time to take a breath!