I don't think God even consider forgiving anyone. Forgiveness is His nature, so He forgives everyone and everything before the sin is even made. We are told to forgive the same sin again and again and be quick about it. God must be able to do even better than that.
God doesn't discriminate between us sinners. We shouldn't either. This quote is not about discriminating Christians from non-Christians, but humans from God. God has the power, we are the powerless. Only God can clear our consciousness.
We can only receive forgiveness if we trust that we can be forgiven. This quote confirms that we can. If Christians say it is only meant for Christians they have missed the point and distorted the meaning. No person is more superior than another in Gods eyes. Everyone deserves a second chance and a third, forth and so on.
A lot more can be said about this quote of course, because it is a very powerful sentence, but I just wanted to say this now because it annoys me when some Christians think God forgives them because they believe in Jesus (and those who are not calling themselves Christians will not be forgiven) and not simply because they trust they will be forgiven.
To perish means to die. Die spiritually. If we are burdoned with sin we feel disconnected to God our source of life, love, wisdom and happiness; We feel dead. To perish doesn't mean that some people will not have eternal life, literally! It means that if you are burdoned with sin your life are limited, you will not feel free, one with God and eternity.
