Our culture treats busyness like a virtue, and many modern-day Christians have bought into this lie. When we ask a friend, “How have you been?” he answers, “Busy, so busy!” and we smile in agreement. Yes, we are busy, too!

We are proud of our busyness because we equate it with productivity and importance. We forget that it’s possible to work frantically while accomplishing nothing of value. We believe we must do as much as (or better yet, more than) the next saint for our lives to matter.

Surely, a busy Christian is a “good” Christian! The great tragedy is that, in all our nervous activity, we become deaf to the invitation of God to come away with Him.

Is the Lord calling you to a season of solitude? Don’t ignore Him. Designate an hour or day or week to separate yourself from everything unnecessary. Refuse to set your own agenda or fill up the time with more busyness: I’ll read ten chapters and memorize five Scriptures. Let the Lord set the tempo of your time together.

“Be still, and know that I am God,” He says (Ps. 46:10, KJV). That command — “be still” — is from the word raphah, which means to “sink, relax, withdraw, and let go.” It also means to be quiet. The Lord might ask you to refrain from all activity, even spoken prayer, so you can learn the discipline of being still.

Today, determine to stop wearing busyness like a badge of honor. Answer the Lord’s call: “Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one” (Song of Sol. 2:10).

“Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place” (Mark 1:35, NIV).