When I was in high school, we had our examples of useless: a screen door on a submarine or high-heeled tennis shoes. Jesus defined useless as salt that isn’t salty or a lamp that doesn’t shine.
I once owned a car with a blown engine, thinking I’d get it running one day. For as long as I believed it would one day be useful, I hung on to it. After three years, the car was hauled to the junkyard.
Now I’m beginning to understand what Jesus was talking about when he referred to the vineyard worker who cut off branches that didn’t bear fruit. If God put me here to help others, and I choose to help only myself, then I’ve made myself useless to him.
When you bear much fruit, you glorify my Father. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. He prunes the branches that bear fruit so they will produce more. — John 15:2, 8