The little carved pomegranates in the desert tabernacle, described carefully by God in Exodus, give us a liberating theory of “Christian” art.   The little fake fruit are there, apparently, because it’s a dry and spare land and, well, they are fruit.  And they’re pretty.   We are never taught that they “stand for” something else more “spiritual”.  They stand for pomegranates, which are beautiful enough, in and of themselves, to adorn God’s tent.  There is no further artistic idea to connect the carved fruit to God.
That’s simple, you might say, but Christian artists struggle with it more than they say out loud.  But, artists, look: God likes the pomegranate for itself.   He is an aesthete; He looked at things He made and exclaimed over the goodness.   So: it is ok to like things for their sensory qualities alone.   Draw what is pretty, make pretty music, like pretty things. The prettiness is signed by God.

This is where we feel obligated to add the “but”; but it is possible, yes, to be led astray by sensory things. The snake whispered to Eve how beautiful that tree looks. Young men, in Proverbs, are warned against the seductive looks of who would later be called “painted ladies”.

But the fact that beauty can be loved too much is no argument against God’s authorship. In fact, that physical beauty holds such power is evidence of God’s craft. He did make the tree in the garden after all, not the snake. The snake simply lied to her about it. We Christians have twisted, somehow, into seeing God’s beauties in nature, praising Him for making them, but then not accepting that making something pretty is His image working in us. We’re tortured.

The tortured weirdness comes out most often, for some reason, among Christian singers, and especially among their fans.  Some rigorist fans fret when Christian singers sing “secular” songs, like a love song. As if alongside the pretty melody and chord progression, there needs to be a Christian lyric, or the song is somehow not what God wants. Why not?

God made pomegranates.  Then, when He envisioned a tent for His presence in the desert, He insisted on interior decorating with pretty colors, pretty metals, and artificial fruits. He doesn’t need a reason to enjoy them, and neither do you.