“But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless” (Titus 3:9).

Sad to say, so many Christians focus on things that don’t really matter. The Christian Church at large has different means of water baptism and different ways of conducting Communion. In some churches whether you can exercise your God-given gift depends on whether or not you’ve been divorced.

My personal journey has taught me something about the Church at large. I grew up as the son of a Pentecostal preacher and attended a Pentecostal Bible College. I went to a Mennonite seminary. I cut my ministerial teeth on G. Campbell Morgan, a Presbyterian. I was influenced by John Stott, an Anglican. The writings of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, a Catholic, moved me. I can’t count the number of Baptist preachers who helped shape my life and I aspire to preach like William E. Sangster, a Methodist.

There were many theological differences in those men and their affiliations. Yet there was more that held them together than that divided them. Though we wear different labels, we all love Jesus, are committed to the authority of Scripture and spend our lives helping others come to faith in Christ. Don’t get sidetracked by things that don’t matter. As Paul wrote Timothy, “Foolish controversies” are “profitless” and “useless.”