The mitzvah is made up of three parts: the will of the One who commands it, the system or technique of the action, and the person who performs the mitzvah.
None of these by itself is enough.
Only by someone performing it is a mitzvah genuine and holy.
Phylacteries lying on a shelf are no more than little boxes and straps, the tzitzii, are no more than a few threads.
A Torah Scroll is holy only when the right person reads from it in the right way.
In short, only when the circle of Divine Will is closed and the circuit of holiness is complete is there a mitzvah.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz