Re:Tuned Mainstream Music
Discussion Guide
Artist: Justin Bieber
Album: Justice
Label: Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Song: Peaches
From: YLO 123 (Spring-Summer 2021 | Middle School)
Writer: Doug Ranck | Free Methodist Church | Santa Barbara, California
Album: Justice
Label: Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Song: Peaches
From: YLO 123 (Spring-Summer 2021 | Middle School)
Writer: Doug Ranck | Free Methodist Church | Santa Barbara, California
Theme(s): Love: Romantic
Teaching Point
God’s desire for is to experience and give complete, unconditional love and not just focus on one aspect of our relationships.
Opening Questions
- Think about somebody you love.
- What are some reasons you love them?
- What are a few of the backstories that make them who they are today?
Discussion
When we truly love someone, we find plenty of reasons to do so. There is likely a mixture of ingredients making this person one with whom we want to be connected. There may be social, spiritual, mental, and physical reasons, and behind each of these elements, there are stories of others who have influenced them.
Justin Bieber wrote a song expressing his love and commitment, apparently to his wife, Hailey. In the lyrics, he mentions “getting his peaches from Georgia” about where he first started recording. He talks about California where “he gets his weed,” likely talking about where he and Hailey do their work. Finally, he talks about “up to the north,” where the couple has a home in Ontario, Canada. All these are pieces of their relationship.
He goes on to underscore their commitment to each other and affirm the vows they made to each other, “There’s nothing like your touch / It’s the way you lift me up / And I’ll be right here with you ‘til the end.”
Our love for another is multi-faceted. A love focusing only on the physical or any one ingredient will be shallow at best. God’s definition of the most complete and healthy love includes the romantic, eros, brotherly and sisterly love, phileo, familial love, storge, and unconditional love, agape.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a shows us the whole meaning of love when it says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
God’s ultimate and best plan is for us to express love to the whole person: romantically, brotherly/sisterly, familial, and unconditionally.
Following God’s plan will result in a lasting and healthy love. It places the highest regard on the object of one’s affection, going beyond just one part of the relationship to respecting and adoring the creation of God where we can be with someone to the end.
Conclusion
Reflect on your relationships.
- What does expressing love to others look like in your life?
- What does expressing love to others look like in your family?
- What does expressing love to others look like in a romantic relationship?
- What on the checklist of 1 Corinthians 13 do you need to practice more?
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