The goal of holiness to many Christians ends up being a subjective issue that depends upon each person’s preferences and opinions.

But if we use God’s definition, there really is nothing subjective about it.  2 Peter 1:5-8 defines the process and goal of holiness:

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In these verses, we see a progression of growth as the characteristics of Jesus Christ are added to our lives.  It starts with simple faith and grows in maturity until we finally reach unselfish sacrificial love. Those are not human attributes; they are the attributes of God.

Peter also says that as God’s characteristics grow in us, then He will be able to use us for His purpose—we will not be “barren or unfruitful.”

Our ultimate goal is to glorify God in everything we do, and the only way that can happen is when people see God in us instead of us.  God wants people to see His character, not our own. That is the goal of holiness.

So really, becoming holy as God has called us to be holy just requires us to let God take out of us everything that is us, and let Him put in us everything that is Him.