Description
For years, I lived as a Christian legalist. I knew all the right answers. I knew the verses. I did the disciplines. And yet, I was missing the point. I wasn’t enjoying God; I was performing for Him. I was wearing myself out trying to prove my worth, all while hiding behind a religious façade that looked good but was hollow at the core.
If that sounds familiar, this book is for you.
Legalism: Breaking Free from Rote Religion is not just a critique of religious performance, it’s a roadmap out of it. It’s the story of how I came to see the subtle ways legalism weaves itself into even the most well-meaning Christian lives. It’s also the story of my wife, Lucia, and many others I’ve counseled: people who loved God but lived in fear, shame, comparison, or pressure. People who felt stuck trying to “do better” but never felt free.
Legalism is not just about following too many rules. It’s about a heart that’s turned from grace and toward self-effort. It hides in Christian communities, marriages, parenting, and even in how we read the Bible. It promises structure but delivers bondage. It demands performance but never produces peace.
In this book, I pull back the curtain on:
- The difference between spiritual discipline and dead religion
- Why some people leave legalism only to fall into licentiousness
- How fear of man disguises itself as faithfulness
- What it means to truly enjoy God—not just serve Him
- The heartbreaking consequences of hiding behind a clean image
- And most importantly, how the gospel sets us free
This isn’t a theoretical book. It’s practical, personal, and pastoral. I wrote it from the trenches of counseling and from the slow, painful, and freeing process of being counseled by God myself. I talk about the baggage of fundamentalism, the effects of cultural Christianity, and the quiet despair of those who know their theology but can’t seem to make it warm their hearts.
- If you’ve ever felt like you were doing all the right things but still missing the joy…
- If you’ve ever felt like you had to hide who you really are to be accepted…
- If you love God but quietly resent the constant pressure to be “better”…
- Or if you want to help someone break free from a fear-based version of faith…
Then I invite you to read this book.
This is not a book to beat up legalists. It’s a book to set them free. My aim is not to crush, but to correct, and then to comfort. I want you to know the joy that comes not from performing for God, but from walking with Him in the freedom of grace. If you’ve ever felt like Christianity became more about reputation than redemption, more about checklist than communion, more about law than love—this book is your invitation to come out of the shadows.
My prayer is that it will help you—like it helped me and many others—to finally break free from rote religion, and walk in the joy, humility, and rest that only the true gospel gives.
Rick