We have a grocery store nearby that makes the best doughnuts I think I’ve ever tasted. Once every few weeks, I’ll take Chloe and Cole to get some doughnuts.

Over time, I’ve noticed that Chloe and Cole eat doughnuts in completely different ways. As Chloe eats hers, she bites through from the outside directly to the middle. Once she reaches the hole in the center, she turns the doughnut and eats it in a straight (well, curved) line.

Cole, however, takes an entirely different approach. He sticks the doughnut on his finger. Then he eats around it, biting almost — but not quite — to his finger. This leaves a thin ring of doughnut when he’s done. This he removes from his finger and pops into his mouth.

Each of my children takes an entirely different approach to eating a doughnut. Yet neither way is necessarily wrong. In both cases, the doughnut gets eaten. Chloe can’t say Cole’s method is wrong because he doesn’t eat his doughnut like she eats hers. Nor can Cole proclaim that Chloe’s method is incorrect because she doesn’t eat her doughnut like he does.

Thankfully, they’ve never thought to argue about such a silly difference.

But churches do. I’m not talking about churches fighting over the right way to eat a doughnut, I’m talking about churches arguing over what is the “right” way to worship our heavenly father.

There are the usual denominational differences: the Baptists don’t worship like the Methodists, who don’t worship like the Presbyterians, who don’t worship like the Pentecostals. For every denomination, there’s a difference of opinion as to how worship should be done.

On a deeper level, some churches are even fighting amongst themselves over whether worship should be traditional, contemporary, or a blend of the two.

I wonder if this sort of bickering grieves our heavenly father? Personally, I believe it does. Instead of fighting over HOW we should worship him, I think it’s more important THAT we worship him.

When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, she was hung up on the location of worship (John 4:20). Jesus told her geography wasn’t important; rather, it was the condition of the heart (John 4:23).

So why do we spend so much time obsessing over the differences, if he doesn’t? The condition of the heart is what God looks at, not our denominational affiliation or our worship style.

As long as people worship in spirit and in truth, that’s what’s pleasing to our heavenly father. They may not worship like we do, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re doing it wrong.

Parrish Myers is a local minister. His column appears biweekly in Sunday Life and on gainesvilletimes.com/life.