John Wesley understood holiness to be God's ultimate goal, calling it "the end of all ordinances of God." Holiness begins and ends as God's purpose and is the love-centered renewal of God's Spirit within us. Like grace, love is the divine initiative towards holiness, restoring humanity to perfect love. Holiness also becomes humanity’s participation in that redemptive process.
Wesleyan holiness moves toward Christian perfection. That is a term John Wesley spent considerable time explaining. Many people in Wesley's day, as do today, misunderstood what he meant by his use of perfection. In his sermon "Plain Account of Christian Perfection," Wesley explains how he came to understand this idea and how much it guided his work as a minister.
Plainly, Christian perfection is the fulfillment of God's desire for humanity. It is "a renewal of the heart in the whole image of God, the full likeness of Him that created it." That renewal is God's work, which leads us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Further, Christian perfection is the fullness of Christ living within us. 
After unpacking his distinguishing doctrine, Wesley asks who would oppose loving God in such a way. Who would speak against God's renewal of heart and mind? Why would any Christian stand against God's intention for every believer? Shall anyone limit what God is willing and able to do? Wesley certainly would not. At another time, Wesley would say, "If Christ be risen, ye ought then to die unto the world, and to live wholly unto God." That is to say, Christian perfection is the desire of God and the hopeful anticipation of those who have chosen to follow Christ.
Our Wesleyan understanding doesn't mean our life will be free from sin or mistakes. But, by God's grace, it will be marked by holiness that frees us from sin's enslavement and leads us to God's perfect love. | 
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