Faith in Film 3, Field of Dreams

Tonight we take a look at another film that showcases an interesting call. Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is standing in his cornfield when he hears a voice whisper, "If you build it, he will come." Eventually he gets more clarity on what he's supposed to build and who will come, but it's still an incredible call in his life.

Last week we looked at "Evan Almighty," which is about a guy literally called by God to build an ark and change the world. "Field of Dreams" isn't a Christian film, and Ray doesn't get a literal call from God, but the principle is the same. Each of us get a call from God — or several calls throughout our lives — and the question we must answer is how will we respond to that call from God.

If you look at our faith, we have a Bible full of stories of people who received unique and challenging calls in their lives and faithfully responded to those calls. One of my favorite examples of this in the Bible is the prophet Hosea. Talk about a tough call. The book of Hosea starts with God's call for who Hosea is to choose for his wife. Hosea 1:2 says, "When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD."

That is a tough call. But things didn't get a lot better for Hosea. First, God told him to give his children some interesting and challenging names, and the message Hosea carried to the people of Israel wasn't exactly inspiring. Then, his wife left to continue illicit relationships with other men. This would have been a deeply painful personal situation, not to mention a violation of the law at the time. But God commanded Hosea to go back to his wife, Gomer.

Hosea 3:1-3 says, “The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” Hosea certainly received a unique call from God, but he was faithful in his response to that call.

I talked about that last week when I touched on the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. It is a collection of Godly men who were faithful in their response to the calls that God put in their lives. And, often, they were faithful in responding to those calls while never seeing the fruits of how God ultimately used their efforts to see his will accomplished in this world. Hebrews 11:39-40 says, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

"Field of Dreams" isn't a Christian movie, but it does illustrate the principle of a faithful response to a call in someone's life. We all get calls in our lives from God, the question is not whether we will get the calls but how we will respond.