The Deadlier Danger: When Distraction Is Worse Than Denial
Most are aware of the dangers of false teaching, but there's another danger that's more subtle and more common
Most of us lose sleep over the wrong dangers.
When we think about threats to our faith, we imagine the dramatic scenarios—public persecution, intellectual challenges so strong they shake the foundations, a culture so hostile we’re forced to choose. We prepare for the frontal assault. We steel ourselves against outright denial.
But Paul, writing to Titus, warns of something far more subtle and far more deadly: distraction.
Not the bold rejection of the gospel. Not the open embrace of false teaching. But the slow, steady drift away from what matters most—entangled in endless controversies that profit no one and accomplish nothing.
Here’s what Paul writes in Titus 3:9-10: “But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.”
The More Subtle Danger
Look, throughout Titus, Paul addresses two major threats to the church. The first is obvious—the Circumcision Party back in chapter 1, people who openly denied the sufficiency of Christ and taught a false gospel. Paul doesn’t mince words about them. He calls them out directly.
But here in chapter 3, he names something different. Something quieter. Something that doesn’t announce itself as heresy but will still destroy just as effectively.
Paul calls them foolish controversies—endless arguments about genealogies and Old Testament laws that determine nothing important, profit no one, and accomplish nothing. They’re just arguments for arguments’ sake. Unprofitable and worthless.
Here’s my perspective after fifteen years of ministry: for most Christians, the greatest danger is not that you’ll wake up one day and deny the faith. The more common danger is that you’ll slowly, week by week, get distracted from its essentials.
Calvin saw this clearly. He wrote that Satan, through his cunning, uses the impudent talkativeness of heretics to entangle good and faithful Christians, drawing them away from the worthy work God has placed before them. It’s like wandering off the trail and getting tangled in the brambles—you didn’t mean to leave the path, but suddenly you’re stuck, bleeding, making no progress. He uses the word “entangled” which I think is vivid and apt here.
And here’s the tragedy: while you’re tangled up arguing about things that profit no one, the work God actually gave you to do goes neglected. Your family sees the back of your head while you’re at the keyboard. Your neighbor never hears the gospel because you’re too busy winning arguments on Reddit. Your church needs you serving, but you’re distracted. So here are seven questions to ask yourself to make sure you aren’t falling off of the trail.
Seven Questions to Ask
So how do we know the difference? When should we engage in theological dispute, and when should we walk away from distraction?
Paul’s test is simple: Is it profitable and worthwhile? But let me give you seven diagnosticquestions to help you discern:
First: Is this a gospel issue? Does it touch the person and work of Christ, or the means of salvation?
Second: Does this have major theological implications that ripple out into doctrine and life?
Third: Does this have practical, daily implications for how Christians live?
Fourth: Are you the right person to engage this? Do you have the knowledge, the calling, the relationships?
Fifth: Is this the right place and the right person to have this conversation? Or are you arguing with strangers online who have no reason to listen to you?
Sixth: Do you actually have the time and attention this requires? Or will engaging this mean neglecting your family, your church, your actual responsibilities?
Seventh: Do trusted, godly people in your life agree with your assessment that this is worth your energy?
Think, for example, about the flood account—when it happened, how it happened. Discussing it has a place. But getting into fiery, angry arguments with strangers on the internet? That’s a Titus 3 issue. Walk away from that argument. But the biblical definition of marriage and sexuality? There are huge implications for life on a daily basis. That’s a Titus 1 issue. Stand firm there.
The problem is we get it backwards. Too many people are lions on the message boards and cowards when it comes to living a godly life in their home. Let it not be true of us.
The Warning About Division
And here’s Paul’s warning in verse 10: there’s a kind of person who loves stirring updivision, who becomes warped and self-condemned. After warning them once or twice, have nothing more to do with him.
That’s strong language, right? But Paul knows what I’ve seen in ministry: people who neglect their families to engage in constant theological disputes always end poorly. They become warped. They become sinful. They become self-condemned.
Do not give your best energy to what is profitless and worthless.
The Better Way
Here’s the good news: you know how you avoid distraction? You get your hands full with the right things.
I once asked one of our early pastors how they avoided getting tangled up in theological rabbit trails while planting the church. His answer? They never had to strategize to avoid distractions. They were just too busy with God’s saving work, too consumed with restoring the church to its biblical design, too aware that time was short.
When you’re consumed with the right things, distraction falls away on its own.
So here’s my charge, friends: refuse to give your best energy to arguments that profit no one. Test every controversy by Paul’s standard—is it profitable, is it worthwhile, does it advance the gospel or adorn it? And if it doesn’t, walk away.
Your life is too short. Your mission is too urgent. Your family needs you too much. And Christ has called you to better things.
