1 Corinthians 9:18

What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.

The gospel without charge ... This was Paul's reward, to be able to preach the gospel without charge to dying people. It is not to be denied that a commendable pride existed in his heart. As Wesley said:

There is perhaps no passage in the apostle's letters where there are more admirably revealed at once the nobility, delicacy, profound humility, dignity, and legitimate pride of this Christian character. Serving Christ cannot give him matter of joy except insofar as he has the consciousness of doing so in a condition of freedom.[14]