Hours before his first album release in five years, Justin Bieber praised Jesus for his faithfulness.
The 25-year-old posted hourly Instagram updates in the build-up to the 17-track “Changes” being sent out into the world. One picture in particular, however, stood out from the barrage of promo material: an illustration that simply read “Thank you Jesus.”
“Thank you Jesus for your forgiveness!” he wrote. “Thank you Jesus that when I was lost you found me, thank you that you brought be from death to life! Thank you that once I was blind but now I see! Thank you for giving your life up on the cross so that I could have ETERNAL LIFE! TRUE LIFE on earth and life ABUNDANTLY!”
Bieber concluded: “Thank you for the promises you have for me! Thank you that I am protected from the hidden traps of my enemy!! I am honored to serve you all the days of my life!”
Many of the songs on the album are filled with references to Bieber’s Christian faith. The title track “Changes” comes to an abrupt end with the simple spoken word: “People change, circumstances change, but God always stays the same.”
Bieber has talked openly about how his faith helped him overcome serious drug addiction.
“I decided to stop [drugs] because I felt like I was dying, my security were coming into the room at night to check my pulse. People don’t know how serious it got; it was legit crazy scary,” he said in a recent episode of YouTube documentary series, “Seasons.”
“I was waking up in the morning and the first thing I was doing was popping pills and smoking a blunt and starting my day,” he added.
