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“See, then, dear brothers and sisters in Jesus, in the sanctification of the Levite the type of your own separation unto God. Like them, " Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price," (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.) You belong wholly and entirely to Him who purchased you with His own most precious blood. You are the exclusive property of Him who laid down His life for you; to Him you owe everything; and being set apart unto Him, neither the world, the flesh, nor the devil have any longer the slightest claim on you. You are "debtors," but "not to the flesh." Your ransomed body, soul, and spirit, saved from destruction by the blood of the Lamb, are, from the moment of your deliverance, the Lord's, and His alone. And you are His for ever: a Levite could never return to the position of an ordinary Israelite, nor can you ever belong to any one else but the living God. You are one of a "peculiar people," a "royal priesthood," the saints of the Most High. You may, alas! often forget your wondrous position, and walk unworthily of Him who has "called you unto His kingdom and glory." But thanks be unto God, the same that said, "I sanctified them for myself," said also, "Mine they shall be. I am Jehovah," (Num. iii. 13.) -- Stevenson Blackwood, The Shadow and The Substance”
― Stevenson A. Blackwood

“The idea that holiness is received, not achieved, shouldn’t come as a shock. Every one of us does the same thing with ordinary objects. Take a toothbrush, for example. It’s an ordinary object that has dozens of potential uses. Yet once you put it in your mouth, you’re protective of anyone else using it for anything else. Or take an ordinary bolt of white linen fabric, fashion it into a garment, drape it on a bride, and it becomes unthinkable to wear it on a morning jog. Why? Because when ordinary objects are sanctified for special service, they become “out of bounds”—or to use biblical terminology, “holy.�� Just to ensure we’re on the same page before moving on, let me restate this as clearly as I can: You are holy not because of your performance but because of God’s proclamation. You don’t become holy though religious rites. You don’t develop holiness through sheer discipline. You become holy the millisecond God places his hand on you and says “Mine.”
― Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Build Your Bible IQ in a Year