A Chunk of Coal on the Way to Becoming a Diamond

1 Peter 1:14-15
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy." (The Message)

As we love God and surender all of our heart to Him, the Holy Spirit will make us pure and set us apart form the darkness of this world.

Only God can reprogram those deeply ingrained habit patterns of sin that constantly predispose us toward evil, and transform them into even more deeply ingrained habitual patterns ala Romans 14:17:

God's kingdom isn't a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness' sake. It's what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you'll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

Instead of always wearing the 'sin police' badge, where we constantly find fault in others, we can instead turn to our real fulltime job: submitting to the Spirit's work in our own life.

This is the definition of becoming holy.