A golfer once carefully lined up his tee shot, took a mighty swing, and missed the ball completely. Collecting himself, he approached the ball again, and took another swing, but missed again. A third time he approached the ball, determined this time to at least make contact. But once again, he swung and missed.

Feeling the need to say something to break the awkward silence, the golfer who had just swung and missed three times exclaimed, “This is the toughest course I’ve ever seen!”

When we evaluate our performance, it is very tempting to blame our failures on someone or something other than ourselves. Let’s be careful to give ourselves a proper assessment.

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”—Romans 12:3.