9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.
How easy it is to get caught up in fruitless discussions about non-essential issues. The best advice that could ever be given is given here in this verse. Avoid them, don’t even stand around them, walk away, and put distance between yourself and those conversations. Have you ever walked in a street during a parade, especially one with horses? When I was in High School, our marching band participated in many parades. One of the skills you learned was walking around those ‘gifts’ on the street, left by well-meaning horses. The real trick was to keep you upper body in proper alignment with the formation so all the lines were still straight. It never worked. As you watched those in front of you move around the ‘gift’, you could see the line bend to the right or the left. They simply stepped to the side and then returned to their original path. That is how we need to move around fruitless conversations. When we see one either starting or in progress, we are commanded to avoid them. Over time you learn what they sound like, because those conversations never lead to changed lives. They exist to distract us from fruitful conversations. If we find ourselves in the middle of one of those distracting conversations, two choices exist. You can try to steer the conversation toward a fruitful field, or walk away. Oh, I guess there is the third option of staying there and wasting your life, but that is what we are commanded to avoid. Many times the only way you can tell if the conversation is one to be avoided is by listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And of course that means you have to be used to listening to His whispers, which means you have already spent time listening in your quiet time. Get to know the voice of the Lord. He will guide and direct your steps. He will keep you from wasting your life in these kinds of conversations.
The Arnold Journey 