Muhammad Ali used to boast that he was the greatest boxer of all time. Perhaps he was. You certainly can’t fault him for lacking confidence.

Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys wrote the definitive anthem to high school pride in 1963:

When some loud braggart tries to put me down
And says his school is great,
I tell him right away,
Now what's the matter buddy?
Ain’t you heard of my school?
It’s number one in the state.

So be true to your school now,
Just like you would to your girl or guy.
Be true to your school now
And let your colors fly.
Be true to your school.

You will occasionally hear people say that America is the greatest country on earth (have you ever said it?) A new TV show called “The Newsroom” features actor Jeff Daniels as anchor Will McAvoy. YouTube has a clip from the show that’s been getting some buzz—“McAvoy” is on a panel fielding questions from college students and is asked why he thinks America is the greatest country on earth. After sputtering a little he launches into a profane rant on why America is not the greatest country—“We’re 7^th in literacy, 27^th in math proficiency, 178^th in infant mortality…” He rattles off a series of statistics on our national mediocrity to put the earnest blonde in her place. (note: Wikipedia’s article on infant mortality places the U.S. at #34, so perhaps McAvoy is inventing some of his numbers).

I don’t care for McAvoy/Daniels’ rudeness or smugness, but I would share his discomfort with gloating that America is the greatest country on earth. Or worse—assuming that being #1 (whatever that means) is an ancient birthright, that somehow America is destined for world leadership, that we are a holy Zion, entitled to and promised greatness. Back in the 1840s newspaper editor John O’Sullivan coined the phrase “manifest destiny,” meaning that God himself had ordained that the United States should stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific, that we were an enlightened nation chosen to lighten the Gentiles.

I would call our country “greatly blessed by the Lord” rather than “the greatest country on earth.” We do indeed have insights and wealth to share with other nations, but we also have significant weaknesses and confusion and need to learn from the insights of others. Rather than comparing ourselves with others and exulting when we are #1 in some way, or bemoaning our loss of world leadership and bitterly blaming somebody or some group, I would prefer to work to be the best we can be, to use God’s gifts with gratitude to him and service to people, to use our immense military power with humbleness and restraint and for the good of all, not just us, and to look at other countries with a little more appreciation and respect.