See? I find this verse entirely pointless. God has the power to easily disband the "devil" and chooses not to do it. If God were really all-loving, wouldn't God be compelled to save its creatures?
Yes, He does have the power to destroy the devil, and He will, his end is very clear in the bible. But, destroying him does not change the fact that when Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God, sin entered them and all humanity born of them. It corrupted their nature as well as that of every human being born thereafter, with the exception of Jesus Christ.
Sin = separation from God = lost. We are
born lost, condemned already. That is something people don't realize - they stand condemned right this moment if they are not saved. Final judgement and eternity in hell is only an end result of this and the choice to not be saved.
Being lost is not a matter of 'conduct' but rather a condition of the heart. A change of behavior for the better will not alter our sin nature. What is necessary is a transformation of the heart.
Salvation is simple: Jesus + nothing = salvation. Can't earn it because it is a free gift, and because it is a free gift paid by Jesus, you can't lose it by anything you do.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father's hand.
God wants a relationship with us. He loves us and has a ton of great things in store for every one of us, and wants to do great things through us. Transformation of the heart can only happen when we are saved because once we are saved, we are no longer under the power and condemnation of sin. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit seals us, lives inside us, and guides us in everything. Not takes over us,
guides; we do not become robots, we still make our own choices, but we are given the mind of Christ, convicted of any future sin so we can repent (if we don't, we tend to move away from God out of guilt, not vice versa), and are literally changed into a new person. It happens over time, though many people do a 180 in life and it is very noticeable, and you remember when you got saved because your outlook and view of things really does change a lot. And, most importantly, and freeing of all is that salvation is permanent - nothing and no one can take us from Almighty God.
God's attitude toward the lost is one of love and patience. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that His desire is that no one perish but that all come to repentance, and He provided a way for us to do that. He also allows those that do not want a relationship with Him their choice.