The lifeguard will find it impossible to save the victim unless the victim stops trying to save himself. The only way for the victim to be rescued is for the victim to give up and go limp in the water. Then the lifeguard can put his arms around him and convey him to safety. As long as the victim thinks he can save himself, he is destined to drown. Only when the victim gives up can he be saved.
T hat is how faith is.
And faith is the basis for all Christian discipleship. It is the sentence of death. When you die to your own striving and go limp in the chaos water of life, then Jesus can wrap his arms around you and carry you to the safety of new life in him, where discipleship is the natural and logical consequence of faith, and not something you generate by your own reason and strength. H oly Baptism is the sacrament of our salvation. Whether we are young or old, we come to the font, acknowledging that we cannot save ourselves, nor can we be faithful disciples on our own.