the pressure's off

A book a friend of mine recently rurned me onto is Larry Crabb's "The Pressure's Off." It's a rather interesting and rather compelling book about the legalism that often ensnares us because we fall into the trap of means to an end, like "seven rules for a successful marriage" or "thirteen ways to raise godly children."

Crabb's point -- and I think it's an excellent one -- is that when we do this, we're going back to the Law, the very thing Christ freed us from and doing exactly what Paul warns us not to do. We don't improve anything by following the Law; we instead place ourselves under a burden we can't possibly carry.