God doesn't show favoritism. And when I've read the above verse in the past I've interpreted it as God can save anyone and wants to save anyone. He didn't create anyone to go to hell. He wants everyone in heaven with Him.
BUT, I see a different side to this verse today. Maybe you'll see it too.
My reading today took me to Acts 19. Some silversmiths in Ephesus who made little silver idol statutes were mad about Paul's preaching. They were afraid people would quit buying their little idols and they'd lose income. The institgator, a guy named Demetrius, used flattery to get the other businessmen on his side. In verse 27 he told them:
"And not only is there danger that this trade off ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship should even be dethroned from her magnificence."
He brought religion and loyalty and heroics into it for his peers. Maybe he saw money wasn't the driving force for them.
So, they started the crowd going. It was becoming a riot, out of control badly.
And then the town clerk (that is all we know of this man) stepped up and spoke (verses 35-41).
He quieted the crowd, spoke truth without condemning anyone and sent everyone home. He showed great wisdom.
God used this unknown clerk. He was able to get in front of the crowd and direct them. He had a gift.
Most likely this clerk wasn't a believer. The Bible doesn't say he was and some of his words sound like he was a Artemis follower. God is not a respecter of persons. He uses whoever will let Him use them. And this clerk let God use Him in this situation.
Sometimes we believers (really all humanity) will shut down when someone who doesn't believe in the way we believe speaks. There is even a kind of fear in some people that they will be "tainted" by this person of differing belief.
How wrong we are. We can learn from all people. And evil doesn't come from another person. It comes from our own hearts.
Jesus says in Matthew 15, "For the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders."