When researchers at Duke, Harvard, and Northwestern asked investors how their mutual funds performed last year compared with Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, a third claimed their funds outperformed the market by at least 5 percent. One in six said their funds fared better by more than 10 percent. However, a check of the portfolios belonging to those claiming to have beaten the market showed that 88 percent had overestimated their earnings. The study discovered that some “market beaters” lagged between 5 to 15 percent behind the S&P. Said Don Moore of Northwestern, “Everybody wants to believe they’re better than average.”

Unfortunately, the same thing is true in the spiritual realm: It is human nature for us to look at our neighbors and conclude that we are more righteous.