All pastors and indeed all who nurture God’s people have an even greater satisfaction. This is proportionally greater just as eternity is greater than this brief life and it brings wonderful rewards. In both cases however correction is needed. The father must be willing to be the one who causes the discomfort of correction and so must the pastor. Both risk turning those they admonish against them, but they do it in the hope that when the lesson has been learnt the son or daughter, whether physical or spiritual, will appreciate that it was done for their good and they will reconsider and approve the discipline. A pastor must be ready to expose and oppose those traits in himself and others which are displeasing to God. How often we see the apostle Paul reasoning with those under his charge, and teaching and admonishing them to live for Christ. He is ever patient, proportionate, gentle in his approach, but he is not prepared to ignore what is wrong in their conduct. He explains and instructs even as he corrects because he wants the child’s understanding to change and the new behaviour to come from within. Paul looked forward to the day when his work was complete and the fruit of it could be enjoyed in the presence of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). On that day he would be fully rewarded for all the sorrow and difficulty involved in pastoring the churches and entering into their struggles and spiritual battles (2 Corinthians 11:29) as well as sharing their triumphs. He did this in hope and at the coming of Christ the eternal rest will begin to be shared with all the people of God.